Dogecoin Under Siege: Understanding ‘DogeReaper’ Vulnerability

• Andreas Kohl alleged that he exploited the “DogeReaper” vulnerability, but community members disputed his claim, stating that the Dogecoin network was functioning normally.
• Dogecoin community member “Mishaboar” stated that the DogeReaper vulnerability had already been fixed, and Kohl’s reliance on unreliable data (from Blockchair) was misleading.

The Dogecoin community has been abuzz with the chatter amid claims that the blockchain network has been facing a critical attack. Andreas Kohl, the co-founder of the Sequentia Network, claimed that he was behind in taking down the DOGE network on Thursday.

In a post on the X platform, the Bitcoin sidechain developer claimed that he exploited a vulnerability dubbed “DogeReaper” which allowed him to remotely crash 69% of Doigecoin nodes. The vulnerability exploits a segmentation fault in the network’s code, which occurs when a program tries to access unauthorized memory, causing the operating system to terminate it abruptly.

However, Kohl’s claim is questionable since the Dogecoin network continued to function normally. The below chart shows that the Dogecoin hashrate remains unaffected despite the big claims from Kohl.

Prominent Dogecoin community member “Mishaboar” pointed out that the alleged DogeReaper vulnerability exploited by Kohl had already been disclosed and resolved in a node update released two weeks ago. Key network participants, such as miners and exchanges, swiftly implemented the fix. Mishaboar also emphasized that the data referenced by Kohl was unreliable.

Community Experts Dispute Claims of Dogecoin Network Disruption

Kohl’s claim of a successful attack on the Dogecoin network relied on Blockchair data, which indicated a drop in online nodes from 647 to 205 following the alleged hack. But Dogecoin community member “Mishaboar” quesitoned the reliability of Blockchair’s data, adding that it’s not comprehensive. On the other hand, the “what-is-dogecoin.com” portal suggests that the Dogecoin network actually has over 14,000 nodes.

Furthermore, Mishaboar noted that the Dogecoin network can continue to function smoothly even with a small subset of live nodes. Bitcoin developer Peter Todd also echoed this view, adding that even if 69% of publicly accessible Dogecoin nodes were disrupted, the impact on the network would likely be minimal. Todd emphasized that it would take considerable effort to disrupt the consensus in decentralized networks like Dogecoin.

The notable thing here is even taking down 69% of publicly accessible dogecoin nodes is probably not going to do anything interesting.

It takes a _lot_ to break the consensus in flood fill networks. https://t.co/bonDjPI7mj

— Peter Todd (@peterktodd) December 12, 2024

DOGE Price Impact Stays Minimal

Despite the recent confusion, there was no sign of market panic, indicating strong investor confidence. As of now, DOGE is undergoing a slight correction in line with a broader market downturn, trading at approximately $0.40, while the overbought conditions have calmed down, per the CNF report.

On the other hand, with the recent retracement in the Dogecoin price, the whale activity has shot up significantly. Recent large transfers by DOGE whales have caught attention. According to Whale Alert, more than 61 million DOGE, valued at approximately $23.5 million, moved from an unidentified wallet to the Robinhood platform. Later, another transfer of nearly 85.4 million DOGE took place, worth around $32.9 million, reported CNF.