Information disclosure in Bitcoin Core

1) Cleartext storage of sensitive information

EUVDB-ID: #VU47270

Risk: Low

CVSSv3.1: 4.8 [CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N/E:U/RL:O/RC:C]

CVE-ID: CVE-2019-15947

CWE-ID: CWE-312 - Cleartext Storage of Sensitive Information

Exploit availability: No

Description

The vulnerability allows a local user to gain access to sensitive information.

The vulnerability exists due to bitcoin-qt stores wallet.dat data unencrypted in memory. Upon a crash, it may dump a core file. If a user were to mishandle a core file, an attacker can reconstruct the user's wallet.dat file, including their private keys, via a grep "6231 0500" command.

Mitigation

Install updates from vendor's website.

Vulnerable software versions

Bitcoin Core: 0.18.0

External links

http://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Common_Vulnerabilities_and_Exposures#CVE-2019-15947
http://gist.github.com/oxagast/50a121b2df32186e0c48411859d5861b
http://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/issues/16824
http://security.gentoo.org/glsa/202009-18

Q & A

Can this vulnerability be exploited remotely?

No. This vulnerability can be exploited locally. The attacker should have authentication credentials and successfully authenticate on the system.

Is there known malware, which exploits this vulnerability?

No. We are not aware of malware exploiting this vulnerability.