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Low 35 Bitcoin

Always emit bump events, even when fees are sufficient

Public commit record

What the developer wrote

Authored by Willem Van Lint

73/100 · Adequate
Always emit bump events, even when fees are sufficient

Currently, the anchor commitment bump events are bypassed when the
commitment transaction has sufficient fees. However, this makes it
difficult for users to defer force-closures to a trusted party (such as
an LSP) while not maintaining reserves. Broadcasting a commitment
transaction without maintaining reserves would make HTLCs unclaimable
against that commitment transaction.

In this change, anchor commitment bump events will always be emitted so
users can capture and choose not to process them.
✓ Specific, descriptive subject✓ Names a concrete action or component✓ Provides detailed explanatory context
The short version

What changed, and why it matters

This change alters how Lightning anchor channel commitment transactions are broadcast. Previously, if a commitment transaction already paid enough in fees, the software would silently broadcast it without telling the user. Now it always emits a 'bump' event so the user (or a delegated service like an LSP) can see what is happening and decide whether to broadcast. The change is described as a safety improvement: broadcasting a commitment without reserves can make HTLCs unclaimable, so users should be notified and given control.

Recommended action

Review how downstream consumers handle BumpTransactionEvent::ChannelClose to ensure they do not accidentally broadcast a commitment when they intended to delegate or suppress it. Ensure documentation and release notes mention the new always-emitted event for anchor channels. No immediate patch or CVE appears required based on the commit alone.

Security signals we found

01

Change in transaction broadcast control flow for anchor channels

02

Removal of silent commitment broadcast path

03

Introduction of always-on event emission for force-close scenarios

04

Documentation update warning that commitment may already have sufficient feerate and only commitment should be broadcast

05

Test changes confirm additional bump close events and anchor spends are now expected

Risk score

Why this scored 35/100

Our methodology →
Potential impact 8/30
Exploitability 5/25
Stealth signal 4/15
Affected reach 7/15
Confidence 7/10
Evidence quality 4/5
Human-validated context

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