Binance releases urgent patch to fix the cross-chain infrastructure after attack

Binance developers have today announced the release of the temporary urgent patch v1.1.16. The patch will fix the cross-chain infrastructure between the BNB Beacon Chain and the BNB Smart Chain after the recent $100 million cross-chain exploit.

The patch will re-enable cross-chain communication which had been temporarily hampered after the attack.

The v1.1.16 patch is more of a hard fork of the mainnet and the testnet. The Moran hard fork upgrade for the mainnet is expected to happen at block height 22,107,423 on October 12 at around 8 AM UTC while the upgrade for the testnet is expected to take place at block height 23,603,940 on October 11 at 8 AM UTC.

What the upgrade seeks to fix

In a nutshell, the upgrade will fix the vulnerabilities in the IAVL hash check, make the relayer whitelisted to the genesis, and introduce a block header in sequence check in the CrossChain Contract.

Validators will be required to check and upgrade with the patch immediately after the upgrade goes live since it is an emergency patch fix aimed at fixing issues and potential risks on the BNB Chain.

Binance developers have confirmed that users will be able to receive their funds immediately after the completion of the upgrade and the staking rewards will also recover the next day.

Afterwards, Binance will announce further improvements.

BNB token price continues to fall

The BNB price has been in a freefall mode since the BSC Token Hub exploit on October 7.

After a 5% drop on the very day of the exploit, the BNB token has dropped by a further 8%. At press time, it was trading at $271.22, which is way below its highs above $297 at the start of October.