The Lightning Network may be vulnerable to an attack based on malicious interior nodes, a recent research paper shows. The approach is not an exploit or a code error, but uses the rules of the Lightning Network to hijack transactions.
Anyone can create nodes and include them in payment routes. The Lightning Network relies on each node to make the transactions to the next one, and take a fee for the activity. But a malicious actor could place nodes that actually hold back transactions. With strategically placed nodes, the LN routes could become unusable.
Because the LN is voluntary, the pathways are still rather centralized, and routing is predictable. The researchers discovered that the network c...