Anthropic · The Block
Security researcher catches Zcash flaw allowing ‘unlimited’ counterfeit minting; ZEC drops 31%
Compiled by KHAO Editorial — aggregated from 1 source. See llms.txt for citation guidance.
★ Tier-1 Source
A security researcher discovered a critical vulnerability in Zcash's Orchard transaction pool that could be exploited to create an "unlimited" amount of counterfeit tokens within the pool.
Key facts
- It fell 31% over the past 24 hours to $409.64 as of 11:00 p.m
- On May 29, Hornby discovered the Orchard circuit vulnerability using Anthropic's newly released Opus 4.8 model and immediately shared the findings with engineers at the Zcash Open Development Lab
- While the vulnerability was patched on June 1, it has been present since Orchard's activation in May 2022, Shielded Labs said
- Shielded Labs, an independent Zcash support organization, published the findings on the social media platform X on Thursday
Summary
Shielded Labs, an independent Zcash support organization, published the findings on the social media platform X on Thursday. The announcement coincided with a steep decline in the price of Zcash (ZEC). Hornby, a long-time contributor to the Zcash ecosystem, evaluated the protocol using both AI-assisted and traditional security research techniques to identify vulnerabilities before they could be exploited by malicious actors, according to the post. On May 29, Hornby discovered the Orchard circuit vulnerability using Anthropic's newly released Opus 4.8 model and immediately shared the findings with engineers at the Zcash Open Development Lab (ZODL).