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Low 36 Bitcoin

HTTPServer: disconnect after idle timeout (-rpcservertimeout)

Public commit record

What the developer wrote

Authored by Matthew Zipkin

50/100 · Thin
HTTPServer: disconnect after idle timeout (-rpcservertimeout)
✓ Specific, descriptive subject✓ Names a concrete action or component! No meaningful explanatory body
The short version

What changed, and why it matters

This commit adds an idle timeout for HTTP connections to Bitcoin Core's RPC server. Previously, clients could stay connected indefinitely even when doing nothing. Now, after a configurable period of inactivity (default 30 seconds via -rpcservertimeout), idle clients are disconnected. This is a defensive hardening change that reduces resource exhaustion risks from abandoned or maliciously held-open connections.

Recommended action

No immediate action required. This is a hardening improvement. Operators may review -rpcservertimeout setting if they have long-polling RPC use cases. Reviewers should verify the m_req_busy guard correctly prevents timeout during slow requests and that the atomic timestamp updates are race-safe.

Security signals we found

01

Adds idle connection timeout to limit resource consumption from idle clients

02

Guards against disconnecting clients mid-request via m_req_busy check

03

Uses steady clock for timeout measurement

04

Resets idle timer on both send and receive activity

05

Prevents premature shared_ptr destruction while worker thread may still hold reference

Risk score

Why this scored 36/100

Our methodology →
Potential impact 8/30
Exploitability 5/25
Stealth signal 6/15
Affected reach 7/15
Confidence 7/10
Evidence quality 3/5
Human-validated context

Community notes

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