Core Lightning: Nodes remain down after patch due to storage announcement

Core Lightning, the software operating Bitcoin's layer-2 Lightning Network, remains vulnerable to repeated node crashes even after its security patch, as malicious channel announcements stored on disk can trigger failures at every restart. In a technical analysis published October 24, researcher Nishant Bansal scoped the affected versions to v25.02 through v26.04 and recommended upgrading to Core Lightning v26.04.1 or later. The issue stems from the fact that blocking new malicious announcements and purging already-stored records are separate fixes, meaning nodes that saved a crafted channel announcement before patching will keep crashing until the disk records are removed. Channel announcements are the messages nodes exchange to map public payment channels and determine routing paths, so corrupted entries can disrupt payment routing across the network. Node operators running Lightning infrastructure should verify their version and clear any stored announcements from before the patch. Watch for further advisories from Blockstream, the developer behind Core Lightning, and whether additional mitigation tooling is released for affected operators.