Nethermind pushes a hotfix after a customer makes invalid blocks on Etherm.

Ethereum infrastructure firm Nethermind has fixed a “critical” bug in several versions of its execution client that prevented users from creating blocks on Ethereum.

While Nethermind users are a minority client, the incident has prompted some members of the Ethereum community to reiterate the importance of avoiding multi-client gating.

According to information posted on the Nethermind GitHub account on January 21, the latest hotfix addresses a compatibility issue introduced in Nethermind in version 1.23.0.

Daniel Cadella, Nethermind's co-technology officer, confirmed that versions 1.23-1.25 were affected and asked node verifiers to update to version 1.25.2. Cadella described the error as “critical” in a follow-up post.

We have the fix! Please update to 1.25.2 no resync required. Versions up to 1.22 don't have that bug, only 1.23-1.25 are affected.

— Danielsie (@_D4nie1_) January 21, 2024

The issue was first reported by GitHub user “wga22” who reported that their Nethermind implementation clients were no longer running blocks.

The new version 1.25.2 ca approximately 2.5 hours The company's technical lead Lucas Rosemage said the company is investigating the issue.

At first glance, Ethereum advocate Superphase called the issue “no big deal” as long as the consensus issue only affected a minority of customers.

“It's actually a deliberate design decision not to rely on any single point of failure,” Superfit added.

I just heard about a possible client error in Nethermind. This isn't a big deal as long as it only affects small customers – in fact, it's a very deliberate design decision not to rely on any single point of failure. https://t.co/HrjtsG4ckw

— superphiz.eth ️ (@superphiz) January 21, 2024

However, several members of the Ethereum community have argued that the situation could be more damaging if the issue were to come in Gate – which currently accounts for 84% of execution clients on Ethereum.

“Today's Beacon chain hack has once again highlighted the importance of L client diversity,” wrote Ethereum activist “Daddysetter” in a January 21 post.

“Switch to a minority client and help keep Ethereum safe!” He added.

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Nethermind currently holds only 8.2% of execution clients on Ethereum, data shows.

However, in August, Ethereum bull Anthony Sassano shared a screenshot showing a very healthy execution client split, with Geth and Nethermind accounting for 48% and 26% of execution clients, respectively.

“Customer diversity is one of the greatest achievements of the Ethereum ecosystem,” said Sassano.

The increased reliance on Gate has raised concerns among many members of the Ethereum community.

“There's nothing wrong with Gate (they're great) but they're taking a disproportionate risk by running it,” said Ethereum advocate “Marceut” on January 21.

Look at you all

Besu had a problem earlier this month. It wasn't a big deal since they were ~4% of the network

Nethermind has an issue today. Not a big deal since they are ~10% of the network.

Client bugs can occur in any client. Gate may be next. It's a big deal https://t.co/MxbWpxlFQR

— nixo.eth (@nixorokish) January 21, 2024

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