<blockquote>
  <p>Is there any way that when requesting the peers list of a node, the node could provide a fake peers list with a number of 'bad' nodes?</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Certainly. It's impossible to check whether nodes are good or bad without connecting to them. A node can just return whatever IP address and port combinations it wants and the receiver will need to determine for itself whether they are good or bad.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-02-12T18:38:48.593Z
2019-02-12T18:38:48.593Z
Ava Chow
<p>When joining the bitcoin network, you request a list of peers that a node has so that you are able to connect to those peers if you wanted to, in order to be better connected. Is there any way that when requesting the peers list of a node, the node could provide a fake peers list with a number of 'bad' nodes?</p>

<network>
Requesting a node's peers list
DonalDraper
# Requesting a node's peers list

(Asked by: username_0 on 2019-02-12)

When joining the bitcoin network, you request a list of peers that a node has so that you are able to connect to those peers if you wanted to, in order to be better connected. Is there any way that when requesting the peers list of a node, the node could provide a fake peers list with a number of 'bad' nodes?

**Tags:** network


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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2019-02-12. Score: 1 | Accepted answer

> Is there any way that when requesting the peers list of a node, the node could provide a fake peers list with a number of 'bad' nodes?

Certainly. It's impossible to check whether nodes are good or bad without connecting to them. A node can just return whatever IP address and port combinations it wants and the receiver will need to determine for itself whether they are good or bad.


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