Key Takeaways:
- All users of LNbits are advised to upgrade to v1.7.0 as this is an urgent security update.
- Ben Arc, the creator of LNbits, said that the attacks have been against instances leading to losses for users.
- Version 1.7.0 features enhanced authentication, payment security, extension restrictions and new functionality such as 2FA, BOLT12 support and more.
Bitcoin Lightning wallet platform LNbits has released version 1.7.0 in the wake of a major security incident that necessitated cautionary shutdown notices for users.
The project now claims operators have been urged to take action as soon as possible, with a statement claiming the release was a critical security package addressing vulnerabilities, authentication, payment processing and extension management.
LNbits Pushes Emergency Upgrade After Reported Losses
The release coincides with a warning on Nov. 8 issued by LNbits to operators to take down their servers amid burst attacks. Earlier in the day, the team requested users to turn off the Paywall extension so it could investigate a possible vulnerability.
Ben Arc later admitted losses had been incurred by both user and project, and that the days before v1.7.0 were especially hard.
🚨SECURITY UPDATE🚨
v1.7.0 is now released
https://t.co/AucW45i0Ck
Please follow the upgrade guidance in the notes.— LNbits (@lnbits) November 10, 2026
At least one operator publicly reported the loss of approximately 2.29 million satoshis that is around 0.023 BTC after unauthorized users were registered on an LNbits instance, and funds were withdrawn. A complete haul up to date has not yet been published by the project of losses suffered by all affected operators.
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Upgrading Alone May Not Be Enough
The operator that is at risk is one whose credentials may already have been compromised. LNbits has stated that there is always a possibility that the wallet keys, credentials needed to generate money, or other secrets might still be legitimate still after the wallet software is patched. Users that think that their instance has been compromised should change their credentials and may want to rebuild the instance on a new server.
This is significant because it is not an issue with Bitcoin or the Lightning Network protocol, but LNbits software deployments.
v1.7.0 Adds 2FA, BOLT12 and On-Chain Wallet Support
v1.7.0 is a pretty big feature update on top of security updates. LNbits introduced TOTP two factor authentication, on-chain wallet support, BOLT12 offer payments, NIP-17 support, a job scheduler and an automatic extension update. Also in the release are many fixes for payment notifications, Lightning backends, fiat wallets and Wasm Extensions.
Solutions for payment are duplicate processing of BOLT12 retries, Core Lightning fee calculation, LND self-payments accounting service-fees. The skyward growth of the LNbits news announcement also included several changes to software used, these upgrades involved moving LNbits over to the new Python 3.13 and Pydantic 2 versions and implementing some security enhancements.
New functionality is not top priority for operators, however; LNbits is making a specific call to action, urging all current deployments to upgrade to v1.7.0 prior to normal operation.
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