Bitcoin Treads Water near $65,000 Amid Fresh Security Risks

Bitcoin's price rose to almost $65,000 on Saturday, up slightly from the previous day, as investors digested news of a security vulnerability in BTCPay Server and the risk of replay attacks stemming from a possible BIP-110 chain split.

A flaw in BTCPay Server was exploited late Friday to steal credentials controlling Lightning nodes running LND software. The attackers could then use these credentials to control Lightning wallets, close payment channels, and transfer funds. BTCPay confirmed that funds had been stolen and urged affected operators to update immediately or take their servers offline.

The vulnerability allowed unauthenticated attackers to obtain 'macaroon' files, which grant access to LND nodes. Foundation, a hardware wallet maker, said its BTCPay Lightning node was drained but the on-chain hot wallet remained intact. Citadel21, a Bitcoin publication, also reported losing funds from a Lightning node.

Standard on-chain wallets generated within BTCPay were not affected by the vulnerability, but funds held in an LND node's on-chain wallet may be exposed. A detailed account of the incident is expected after operators have had time to install the patch.