March 2018
Beginner to intermediate
656 pages
20h 9m
English
Content preview from Mastering Blockchain - Second Edition
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Transaction malleability
Transaction malleability in Bitcoin was introduced due to a bug in the bitcoin implementation. Due to this bug, it became possible for an adversary to change the transaction ID of a transaction, thus resulting in a scenario where it would appear that a certain transaction has not been executed. This can allow scenarios where double deposits or withdrawals can occur. In other words, this bug allows the changing of the unique ID of a Bitcoin transaction before it is confirmed. If the ID is changed before confirmation, it would seem that the transaction did not occur at all which can then allow these attacks.