Ethereum Blockchain Split Again Due To Geth Software Client Bug

The Ethereum blockchain split again due to a bug on the GETH software client like the most popular client on the network and ended up creating a fork so let’s read more in our latest Ethereum news.

Despite the fix to the Geth client on Tuesday, most of the users didn’t update to the latest version and this eventually caused a fork on the network. The bug on the blockchain’s most popular client created a fork in the network means that the Ethereum blockchain is now processing two chains at the same time which if remained unresolved, could cause a double-spend attack. A double-spend attack means that the same cryptocurrency is spent twice and turned a cryptocurrency into a counterfeit thus inflating the asset and lowering the value of the token.

A chain split has occurred on the Ethereum mainnet. The issue was resolved in the v1.10.8 release announced previously. Please update your nodes, if you haven’t already!

— Go Ethereum (@go_ethereum) August 27, 2021

The bug in question is present in the older version of the client or of those that came before the Geth v1.10.8 update which is called “Hades Gamma.” Ethereum developers disclosed the bug on August 18 while the client is a piece of software that the users can download and verify transactions on the network. The software is used to run nodes and the more nodes the network has, the more decentralized is so the Bitcoin network has the most odes at 11,858 as per bitnodes. At the moment, there are 5289 Ethereum nodes and the Geth client is the most popular software with 3947 users.

PSA: On Tuesday Aug 24th, Geth will issue a hotfix to a high severity security issue. Please make any necessary preparations to upgrade to the upcoming release (v.1.10.8). #ethereum #geth

— Go Ethereum (@go_ethereum) August 18, 2021

The Ethereum blockchain split happened with 74% of the network using the Geth client and 73% of them use an older version of the client so today’s bug raised alarm bells among plenty in the crypto community and half of the nods of ethereum got affected by the bug. While the bug was identified a week ago, the Hades Gamma update was made availaable and started on Tuesday so today’s fork indicates that many users had to update their clients as Tim Beiko said:

“The bug is serious in that it caused a chain split, but the effects on the Ethereum mainnet were negligible given that the vast majority of clients had upgraded.”

The developer team behind the client Go Ethereum announced that the issue was resolved in the V1.01.8 release announced recently and they urged those using older clients to update. The network suffered similar forks in the past and the second-biggest client Open Ethereum suffered a bug where the clients were not syncing with the network which means the nodes running this client were unable to use the blockchain until the error was fixed. Ethereum forked again in 2020 as the GEh users failed to update their nodes. In each of the prior instances of the chain split resulted from nodes failing to update the software clients in time, the issue was resolved and the users updated their software.

Source: https://www.dcforecasts.com/ethereum-news/ethereum-blockchain-split-again-due-to-geth-software-client-bug/