Litecoin faces deep chain reorganization due to privacy vulnerabilities

CryptoWorld News reports that according to the Litecoin Foundation, Litecoin experienced a deep chain reorganization on Saturday, with attackers exploiting a zero-day vulnerability related to the Mimblewimble extension block privacy layer, causing a fork that lasted over three hours before the main chain was restored. The incident affected blocks 3,095,930 to 3,095,943. Aurora Labs CEO Alex Shevchenko described the event as a “coordinated attack,” stating that the reorganization removed invalid transactions from the Litecoin main chain, and valid transactions during this period were unaffected. The attackers also attempted double payments on cross-chain swap protocols using the fork window. Shevchenko warned exchanges to review Litecoin transactions and balances, saying “We are seeing many double-spend transactions.” The Litecoin Foundation stated that the zero-day vulnerability has now been fully patched. This attack marks the first known major MWEB attack since Litecoin enabled privacy features in May 2022. Following the disclosure, LTC’s trading price approached $56, down about 1% for the day.