These Factors Led to the Solana Outage, Can It Happen Again?

On Tuesday, February 6, the Solana blockchain network experienced a significant outage lasting nearly 5 hours, rendering the platform dysfunctional. While the issue has since been resolved, Matthew Sigel, head of digital assets at VanEck, provides insights into the root causes behind the outage.

BFP Loader Failure Led to the Solana Outage

Matthew Sigel said that the outage was due to a failure in the BPF loader, or “Berkley Packet Filter,” which serves as the mechanism for deploying, upgrading, and executing programs on Solana. According to Sigel, the issue stemmed from a Solana Improvement Proposal (SMID) that introduced changes, including the addition of a blocker to prevent the use of metadata in the BPF.

This alteration was part of upgrade 0093. While a fix was developed after the bug was detected on the testnet, it had not been implemented pending further testing. There is speculation that a manual trigger causedf the bug, leading to the network’s downtime.

To address the issue, developers have rewritten the BPF code lines on the development network. This fix necessitates patching the core software used by all participants on the Solana network before normal operations can resume.

The next steps in restarting the network involve a community review of the patched core software. Validators will then create a snapshot of the last verified block, followed by a consensus process to validate the block.

Upon reaching this consensus, validators can begin running the patched software. Although block production may initially occur without being added to the chain until 66% of the network agrees on the blocks. Network activity will fully resume once 80% of the network agrees on the last block. However, there is a possibility of further halts if the fix proves inadequate.

Can the BFP Loader Fail Again?

Matthew Sigel expresses confidence that efforts to address the issue were already underway. Looking ahead, Sigel highlights potential second-order effects stemming from the restart of the Solana network. He anticipates a surge in decentralized finance (DeFi) activity as arbitrage bots capitalize on opportunities that emerged during the downtime.

Estimates suggest that this activity could generate up to $25 million in Maximum Extractable Value (MEV). However, Sigel warns that the influx of MEV-related activity could potentially trigger further downtime, thus impeding innovation on the Solana network. He suggests that future Solana Improvement Proposals (SMIDs) may face increased scrutiny and debate, citing the ongoing discussions surrounding fee markets as an example of this evolving dynamic.

The Solana price has contained the losses after initial dip. At press time, SOL is trading at $95.