Lisk announced today that its blockchain was temporarily shut down this morning after a bug triggered an “automated security measure.” According to Lisk’s statement a fix is now in place and no user funds have been affected.
🔧 This morning, the #Lisk blockchain was temporarily halted due to an automated security measure. No user funds have been affected and a fix for this matter has already been implemented. For updates, head to the Reddit thread below. https://t.co/FmSXANLMlh
— Lisk (@LiskHQ) June 2, 2018
Switzerland-based Lisk offers a range of blockchain services, including the ability for developers to build blockchain applications in the JavaScript programming language.
“Faulty transaction”
According to Lisk CEO Max Kordek, at some point this morning “an anonymous individual broadcasted a faulty transaction to the Lisk network.” This “invalid, maliciously customized transaction type” took advantage of a bug in transaction processing and was recorded as a valid transaction.
Security measures in the system then kicked in to prevent the blockchain from forking. Each blockchain node “temporarily stopped processing new blocks which has resulted in the Lisk network to halt.”
150 transactions occurred between the faulty transaction and the shutdown; these were not written to the blockchain. Kordek says that the “current plan is to not re-broadcast these transactions.” Instead the whole network act as if they never occurred and therefore “no funds are at risk.”
Not the first time
Kordek admits that this is not the first time that Lisk has had to deal with a situation like this. “We have had similar edge-cases take place 2 or 3 times in the past,” he says, though the “Lisk blockchain always remained secure.”
The newest version of Lisk will be released today, and Kordek asks all delegates to upgrade to this version when it is available.
At this stage it is unclear if the “faulty transaction” was an attempt at sabotage, theft or simply an experiment. Kordek said that in his personal opinion it was likely “an accident due to an individual playing around.”
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