Bitcoin Core 32.0 Enters Final Phase Before Scheduled Release on October 10
Bitcoin Core 32.0 is nearing the end of a development cycle where the most visible changes are not necessarily the most interesting. The release candidate is now available, and developers are aiming for the final version on October 10. The updates include better organized validation, a revamped HTTP server, and several security patches. An AI-assisted audit has also initiated a rather informative testing sequence: the first diagnosis had not yet told the whole story.
In Brief
- Bitcoin Core 32.0 is approaching its release after several months of development, with a release candidate now submitted to the final tests by contributors.
- Block validation is evolving under the hood thanks to the parallel loading of certain data, especially useful for operators running their own nodes.
- Kimi K3 helped identify a weakness in the HTTP server before a developer discovered that the scenario could affect more connections.
- The patch itself required several adjustments, as its first version protected memory while introducing annoying latency on some persistent connections.
- For the ordinary user, the change will largely remain invisible, while developers and operators will benefit from a better protected and more efficiently organized infrastructure.
Bitcoin Core 32.0 Primarily Accelerates Work Under the Hood
Bitcoin Core allows a computer to verify transactions and blocks on the network itself, without having to delegate this task to an external service. Therefore, version 32.0 mainly affects node operators, developers, and services built around this infrastructure.
The most notable performance change concerns block validation. To verify a transaction, the software must find the previous outputs it spends, the famous prevouts. When they are on disk, reading them can slow down the work. The new version allows these data to be preloaded in parallel from the chainstate database.
Eight threads work by default, with a maximum set at sixteen. A more modest machine can reduce this number to zero and disable the mechanism.
The gain will not make the blockchain faster and will not reduce the interval between two blocks. It concerns the work done locally by the node. A technical nuance, certainly discreet on the screen, but quite concrete for those who maintain the infrastructure day after day.
Kimi K3 Identifies a Flaw, Developers Dig Deeper
The story begins with Matthew Zipkin, a contributor known by the pseudonym pinheadmz. While auditing the new HTTP server with Kimi K3, an artificial intelligence model also used by the Bitcoin Red Team, he stumbled upon a memory exhaustion scenario.
The server could continue reading data sent by a client while it was already processing a request. A malicious client thus had the opportunity to keep this request busy and then send even more data. These accumulated in memory.
Zipkin initially thought that the attack required authentication. Then the code review changed the picture. Developer jeanpablojp tested the REST interface and found that 16 connections without credentials could increase the node's consumption from about 46 MB to nearly 3 GB in one minute.
The AI had indeed identified a problem. It had not closed the investigation. A human pushed the test further and discovered a broader vector. This is a much more interesting human-machine collaboration than a simple match to see which of the two finds the most bugs.
-- Price
The first patch slowed down the server
Zipkin's first response followed a rather sober logic: when a request is already being processed, there is no need to continue pulling the subsequent data into the application's memory. They can wait on the system side until the TCP pressure naturally slows down the sender.
The solution of this patch is to not even read the socket when we are busy processing a request.
Matthew Zipkin, GitHub PR #36123
However, the first patch had a flaw. On a persistent connection, jeanpablojp measures a median latency increasing from about 0.14 ms to 53 ms. The patch protected memory but made some requests wait unnecessarily.
New copy, new tests. After revision, 16 unauthenticated REST connections now add only about 3 MB in 90 seconds, compared to 3.2 GB before. The penalty of about 50 ms also disappears. Your first cryptos with Binance This link uses an affiliate program
Not everything is free, though. On an inactive node subjected to continuous pipelining, a reviewer measures a throughput dropping from 383 to 18.9 requests per second. A very specific case, which he says he does not find in any real client. Security thus clearly wins the bet, with a measured compromise rather than a hidden one.
In October, operators will mainly find useful housekeeping
Version 32.0 is not just about this memory story. Several less spectacular changes will come with it if the schedule holds. Four commands related to partially signed transactions will use PSBT v2 by default. Applications that need it can still request the old version.
The HTTP server has been rewritten to replace libevent. It applies stricter rules and limits the number of simultaneously connected HTTP clients to sixteen by default. Another appreciated saving: after reconstruction, the txindex transaction index will occupy less than half of its old disk space.
On the wallet side, exportwatchonlywallet will allow exporting the necessary information for a watch-only wallet without carrying the private keys.
A patch also closes the walletnotify vulnerability. On systems other than Windows, an authenticated RPC user with the required rights could craft certain wallet names to trigger command execution. These names are now treated literally.
For the user of a lightweight application, none of this disrupts the day. For those running blockchain nodes, the details matter more.
To remember before October 10
- The release of Bitcoin Core 32.0 is aimed for October 10, 2026, a deadline that remains subject to change during the final tests of the candidate version.
- Validation will be able to preload certain data with eight threads by default and sixteen at most, without changing the block production rate.
- After correction, 16 unauthenticated REST connections added about 3 MB of memory in 90 seconds, compared to 3.2 GB before the revision.
- Four wallet commands will adopt PSBT v2 by default, while applications will retain the option to request the previous version.
- A fully rebuilt txindex will take less than half of the disk space, while the new HTTP server receives several additional safeguards.
The schedule also offers a nice crossover. While Bitcoin Core aims for October, Ethereum is preparing Glamsterdam, the next major evolution of its blockchain. Sepolia is set to host a test on October 6, if the bugs still present on the devnets are fixed. The mainnet is still expected in the fourth quarter, with December still possible. Two different projects, one method: test, break sometimes, fix a lot, then only deliver.
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