How Previously Identified Bug Caused Network Outage

A bug causing an infinite loop in transaction processing was reported on the Solana network on February 11, 2024, resulting in a five-hour outage. The issue was identified in version 1.17 of Solana’s validator client, which impacted 95% of the cluster stake. This issue was located in the Just-in-Time (JIT) compilation cache. 

Solana Labs provided a comprehensive fix as per Jeff Washington’s post-mortem report, which highlighted the technical details of the incident.

Solana and Outage: A Long History

Solana faced criticism for experiencing nine outages since September 2021, which led to over 150 hours of downtime. However, despite the criticism, SOL, the network’s native token, demonstrated resilience and rebounded to $110 post-outage. 

The network’s response to the bug, first identified during a previous investigation in mid-2022, drew criticism from industry experts such as Charles Hoskinson and Max Keiser.

Despite concerns about centralization, Solana’s community remained steadfast, and SOL emerged as one of the best-performing cryptocurrencies alongside Cardano (ADA) in the past week. A technical analyst on X speculated about potential gains based on historical patterns related to Bitcoin, triggered by recent growth in SOL’s value.

According to a post-mortem report, the Solana network was unusable for five hours on Tuesday due to a previously known bug. 

The validators, responsible for running the software that adds and verifies transactions to the blockchain, stalled on a particular block due to an infinite loop caused by the bug. An endless loop leads to validators endlessly repeating an action, which prevents the network from processing more transactions.

The JIT compilation cache encountered a bug, leading to an infinite loop of recompilations for some older programs, monopolizing network resources and halting operations. 

The Solana team deployed a fix in a new release to address the bug and prevent such loops. The issue was first identified during the investigation of a recent Devnet outage and was reported to the Solana security team in April 2022.

The fix eliminates the ability to create the preconditions required to trigger the bug, which was a more straightforward resolution. 

As the report explains, a complete fix will be included with further improvements to LoadedPrograms and allowed to stabilize with the regular release cycle.

Following the recent outage, the price of SOL initially dipped but quickly recovered, indicating that market responses to network outages have become more subdued over time.

What is Next For Solana Price

Now, it is evident that the investors are bullish and ignoring some of the noise outside of the current bull run. Moreover, one of the technical analysis of Solana, one of the analysts from thecoinrepublic, has also covered the target price for the SOL Coin. 

Summary

A previously identified bug caused an outage in the Solana system. SOL token rebounded to $110 after a recent network outage. Despite criticism, investors seem bullish, and market response to outages has become more subdued.

Nancy J. Allen is a crypto enthusiast, with a major in macroeconomics and minor in business statistics. She believes that cryptocurrencies inspire people to be their own banks, and step aside from traditional monetary exchange systems. She is also intrigued by blockchain technology and its functioning. She frequently researches, and posts content on the top altcoins, their theoretical working principles and technical price predictions.