BNB Chain schedules security-focused Pasteur hard fork for Aug. 25

BNB Chain has scheduled its Pasteur hard fork for Aug. 25, introducing three changes intended to strengthen cross-chain transfers, tighten validator controls, and raise tested transaction capacity from 1,237 to 2,324 transactions per second. Summary Pasteur will activate on BNB Smart Chain at 2:30 a.m. UTC on Aug. 25. Node operators must install BSC software version v1.7.7 before the upgrade. Two changes address cross-chain security, validator permissions, and governance voting. Internal tests raised transaction capacity from 1,237 to 2,324 TPS. BNB Chain said in an Aug. 14 announcement that Pasteur will go live on BNB Smart Chain at 2:30 a.m. UTC on Aug. 25 after running on its test network since July 21. Node operators must install BSC software version v1.7.7 before the activation time. The network also instructed operators to remove an outdated setting called EnableBAL from their configuration files because the updated software will not start if it remains in place. Pasteur includes three proposals: BEP-682, BEP-695, and BEP-675. The first two address security and validator permissions, while the third changes how transactions are processed when new blocks are prepared. You might also like: Microsoft flags ClickFix malware using BNB Chain to fetch attack instructions Pasteur will strengthen BNB Chain bridge checks BEP-682 changes how BNB Smart Chain confirms transfers arriving from another blockchain. Before accepting the assets, BSC checks whether enough validators from the sending network have approved the transfer. BNB Chain said the current process does not prevent the same validator from appearing several times in the approval list. A carefully prepared request could therefore count one validator’s approval more than once, allowing a transfer to pass with fewer separate approvals than the rules require. Pasteur will reject repeated validator entries. According to the network, cross-chain transfers will then need approval from the proper number of separate validators before BSC accepts them. The proposal addresses a specific weakness in BNB Chain’s transfer checks, although the network did not say the issue had been used to steal funds. Cross-chain security has received added attention after attacks on several third-party bridges. In July, a Cardano-to-BNB Chain bridge operated by Wanchain reportedly lost about 515 million NIGHT tokens, valued at roughly $9 million at the time. Security firm BlockSec said the reported attack may have involved a weakness in the messages sent to validators for approval. Midnight Foundation later said the incident affected Wanchain’s third-party bridge and did not involve the Midnight Network itself. Separately, crypto.news reported in August that cross-chain bridge attacks had caused more than $4 billion in losses since 2021. The report identified stolen validator keys and poor transfer checks as among the weaknesses used in major incidents. BNB Chain has not connected Pasteur to the Wanchain attack or any other recent exploit.