Monero bug: Developers warn of ‘significant bug’ that can impact users’ privacy

TL;DR Breakdown:

• Monero developers have discovered a bug that can impact the users’ privacy.
• Users have been instructed to wait longer before spending newly received XMR to curb the impact of the Monero bug. 

Monero developers just learned about a flaw in the privacy coin’s “decoy selection algorithm,” which can impact the privacy of users transacting with XMR. According to the information shared by the developers, the Monero bug is present in the official wallet code. However, Monero users need not worry as “funds are never at risk of being stolen.”

Spending XMR immediately after receiving it is risky

Software developer, Justin Berman, discovered this bug. Berman learned that Monero’s decoy selection algorithm ignores very recent outputs. This significant Monero bug, according to the developers, leaves users’ privacy vulnerable if they spend XMR from their wallets about 20 minutes after they receive it. 

“If users spend funds immediately following the lock time in the first two blocks allowable by consensus rules (~20 minutes after receiving funds), then there is a good probability that the output can be identified as the true spend,” the team explained precisely.  

New Monero bug won’t risk users’ funds 

Fixing the bug won’t necessarily require a full upgrade to the Monero network (i.e., a hard fork). Monero developers are working “very seriously” to introduce the patch, which will be added in future wallet software updates. While users await the fix, the developers said the Monero bug wouldn’t unseal “anything about addresses or transaction amounts.”

However, they can protect their privacy by choosing not to spend XMR immediately after they receive it. Waiting for at least one hour can substantially help users to mitigate the risk of this Monero bug to their privacy, the developers added.

XMR has been one of the most popular and most-used privacy-focused digital currencies in the crypto space. With more than $3.9 billion market capitalization, XMR ranks as the 26th largest crypto. At the time of writing, it was down by 6.3 percent on the 24-hour chart, trading at $218.88 on CoinMarketCap.