Merge #19858: Periodically make block-relay connections and sync headers

b3a515c Clarify comments around outbound peer eviction (Suhas Daftuar)
daffaf0 Periodically make block-relay connections and sync headers (Suhas Daftuar)
3cc8a7a Use conn_type to identify block-relay peers, rather than m_tx_relay == nullptr (Suhas Daftuar)
91d6195 Simplify and clarify extra outbound peer counting (Suhas Daftuar)

Pull request description:

  To make eclipse attacks more difficult, regularly initiate outbound connections
  and stay connected long enough to sync headers and potentially learn of new
  blocks. If we learn a new block, rotate out an existing block-relay peer in
  favor of the new peer.

  This augments the existing outbound peer rotation that exists -- currently we
  make new full-relay connections when our tip is stale, which we disconnect
  after waiting a small time to see if we learn a new block.  As block-relay
  connections use minimal bandwidth, we can make these connections regularly and
  not just when our tip is stale.

  Like feeler connections, these connections are not aggressive; whenever our
  timer fires (once every 5 minutes on average), we'll try to initiate a new
  block-relay connection as described, but if we fail to connect we just wait for
  our timer to fire again before repeating with a new peer.

ACKs for top commit:
  ariard:
    Code Review ACK b3a515c, only change since last time is dropping a useless `cs_main` taking. I manually tested a previous version of the PR, and not substantial change has been introduced since then which would alter behavior IMO.
  jonatack:
    Tested ACK b3a515c over several weeks, though this change and behavior could benefit from test coverage and other follow-ups (refactoring, etc.) described in the review feedback. I did not verify the behavior of `m_start_extra_block_relay_peers` only being enabled after initial chain sync. Since my last review, one unneeded `cs_main` lock was removed.

Tree-SHA512: 75fc6f8e8003e88e93f86b845caf2d30b8b9c0dbb0a6b8aabe4e24ea4f6327351f736a068a3b2720a8a581b789942a3a47f921e2afdb47e88bc50d078aa37b6f

Author: MarcoFalke

src/init.cpp

@@ -200,7 +200,7 @@ void Shutdown(NodeContext& node)
     // using the other before destroying them.
     if (node.peerman) UnregisterValidationInterface(node.peerman.get());
     // Follow the lock order requirements:
-    // * CheckForStaleTipAndEvictPeers locks cs_main before indirectly calling GetExtraOutboundCount
+    // * CheckForStaleTipAndEvictPeers locks cs_main before indirectly calling GetExtraFullOutboundCount
     //   which locks cs_vNodes.
     // * ProcessMessage locks cs_main and g_cs_orphans before indirectly calling ForEachNode which
     //   locks cs_vNodes.

src/net.cpp

@@ -1827,18 +1827,32 @@ void CConnman::SetTryNewOutboundPeer(bool flag)
 // Also exclude peers that haven't finished initial connection handshake yet
 // (so that we don't decide we're over our desired connection limit, and then
 // evict some peer that has finished the handshake)
-int CConnman::GetExtraOutboundCount()
+int CConnman::GetExtraFullOutboundCount()
 {
-    int nOutbound = 0;
+    int full_outbound_peers = 0;
     {
         LOCK(cs_vNodes);
         for (const CNode* pnode : vNodes) {
-            if (pnode->fSuccessfullyConnected && !pnode->fDisconnect && pnode->IsOutboundOrBlockRelayConn()) {
-                ++nOutbound;
+            if (pnode->fSuccessfullyConnected && !pnode->fDisconnect && pnode->IsFullOutboundConn()) {
+                ++full_outbound_peers;
             }
         }
     }
-    return std::max(nOutbound - m_max_outbound_full_relay - m_max_outbound_block_relay, 0);
+    return std::max(full_outbound_peers - m_max_outbound_full_relay, 0);
+}
+
+int CConnman::GetExtraBlockRelayCount()
+{
+    int block_relay_peers = 0;
+    {
+        LOCK(cs_vNodes);
+        for (const CNode* pnode : vNodes) {
+            if (pnode->fSuccessfullyConnected && !pnode->fDisconnect && pnode->IsBlockOnlyConn()) {
+                ++block_relay_peers;
+            }
+        }
+    }
+    return std::max(block_relay_peers - m_max_outbound_block_relay, 0);
 }
 
 void CConnman::ThreadOpenConnections(const std::vector<std::string> connect)
@@ -1869,6 +1883,7 @@ void CConnman::ThreadOpenConnections(const std::vector<std::string> connect)
 
     // Minimum time before next feeler connection (in microseconds).
     int64_t nNextFeeler = PoissonNextSend(nStart*1000*1000, FEELER_INTERVAL);
+    int64_t nNextExtraBlockRelay = PoissonNextSend(nStart*1000*1000, EXTRA_BLOCK_RELAY_ONLY_PEER_INTERVAL);
     while (!interruptNet)
     {
         ProcessAddrFetch();
@@ -1941,8 +1956,9 @@ void CConnman::ThreadOpenConnections(const std::vector<std::string> connect)
         // until we hit our block-relay-only peer limit.
         // GetTryNewOutboundPeer() gets set when a stale tip is detected, so we
         // try opening an additional OUTBOUND_FULL_RELAY connection. If none of
-        // these conditions are met, check the nNextFeeler timer to decide if
-        // we should open a FEELER.
+        // these conditions are met, check to see if it's time to try an extra
+        // block-relay-only peer (to confirm our tip is current, see below) or the nNextFeeler
+        // timer to decide if we should open a FEELER.
 
         if (!m_anchors.empty() && (nOutboundBlockRelay < m_max_outbound_block_relay)) {
             conn_type = ConnectionType::BLOCK_RELAY;
@@ -1953,6 +1969,30 @@ void CConnman::ThreadOpenConnections(const std::vector<std::string> connect)
             conn_type = ConnectionType::BLOCK_RELAY;
         } else if (GetTryNewOutboundPeer()) {
             // OUTBOUND_FULL_RELAY
+        } else if (nTime > nNextExtraBlockRelay && m_start_extra_block_relay_peers) {
+            // Periodically connect to a peer (using regular outbound selection
+            // methodology from addrman) and stay connected long enough to sync
+            // headers, but not much else.
+            //
+            // Then disconnect the peer, if we haven't learned anything new.
+            //
+            // The idea is to make eclipse attacks very difficult to pull off,
+            // because every few minutes we're finding a new peer to learn headers
+            // from.
+            //
+            // This is similar to the logic for trying extra outbound (full-relay)
+            // peers, except:
+            // - we do this all the time on a poisson timer, rather than just when
+            //   our tip is stale
+            // - we potentially disconnect our next-youngest block-relay-only peer, if our
+            //   newest block-relay-only peer delivers a block more recently.
+            //   See the eviction logic in net_processing.cpp.
+            //
+            // Because we can promote these connections to block-relay-only
+            // connections, they do not get their own ConnectionType enum
+            // (similar to how we deal with extra outbound peers).
+            nNextExtraBlockRelay = PoissonNextSend(nTime, EXTRA_BLOCK_RELAY_ONLY_PEER_INTERVAL);
+            conn_type = ConnectionType::BLOCK_RELAY;
         } else if (nTime > nNextFeeler) {
             nNextFeeler = PoissonNextSend(nTime, FEELER_INTERVAL);
             conn_type = ConnectionType::FEELER;

src/net.h

@@ -48,6 +48,8 @@ static const bool DEFAULT_WHITELISTFORCERELAY = false;
 static const int TIMEOUT_INTERVAL = 20 * 60;
 /** Run the feeler connection loop once every 2 minutes or 120 seconds. **/
 static const int FEELER_INTERVAL = 120;
+/** Run the extra block-relay-only connection loop once every 5 minutes. **/
+static const int EXTRA_BLOCK_RELAY_ONLY_PEER_INTERVAL = 300;
 /** The maximum number of addresses from our addrman to return in response to a getaddr message. */
 static constexpr size_t MAX_ADDR_TO_SEND = 1000;
 /** Maximum length of incoming protocol messages (no message over 4 MB is currently acceptable). */
@@ -330,13 +332,20 @@ class CConnman
     void SetTryNewOutboundPeer(bool flag);
     bool GetTryNewOutboundPeer();
 
+    void StartExtraBlockRelayPeers() {
+        LogPrint(BCLog::NET, "net: enabling extra block-relay-only peers\n");
+        m_start_extra_block_relay_peers = true;
+    }
+
     // Return the number of outbound peers we have in excess of our target (eg,
     // if we previously called SetTryNewOutboundPeer(true), and have since set
     // to false, we may have extra peers that we wish to disconnect). This may
     // return a value less than (num_outbound_connections - num_outbound_slots)
     // in cases where some outbound connections are not yet fully connected, or
     // not yet fully disconnected.
-    int GetExtraOutboundCount();
+    int GetExtraFullOutboundCount();
+    // Count the number of block-relay-only peers we have over our limit.
+    int GetExtraBlockRelayCount();
 
     bool AddNode(const std::string& node);
     bool RemoveAddedNode(const std::string& node);
@@ -594,6 +603,12 @@ class CConnman
      *  This takes the place of a feeler connection */
     std::atomic_bool m_try_another_outbound_peer;
 
+    /** flag for initiating extra block-relay-only peer connections.
+     *  this should only be enabled after initial chain sync has occurred,
+     *  as these connections are intended to be short-lived and low-bandwidth.
+     */
+    std::atomic_bool m_start_extra_block_relay_peers{false};
+
     std::atomic<int64_t> m_next_send_inv_to_incoming{0};
 
     /**

src/net_processing.cpp

@@ -2466,7 +2466,7 @@ void PeerManager::ProcessMessage(CNode& pfrom, const std::string& msg_type, CDat
             LogPrintf("New outbound peer connected: version: %d, blocks=%d, peer=%d%s (%s)\n",
                       pfrom.nVersion.load(), pfrom.nStartingHeight,
                       pfrom.GetId(), (fLogIPs ? strprintf(", peeraddr=%s", pfrom.addr.ToString()) : ""),
-                      pfrom.m_tx_relay == nullptr ? "block-relay" : "full-relay");
+                      pfrom.IsBlockOnlyConn() ? "block-relay" : "full-relay");
         }
 
         if (pfrom.GetCommonVersion() >= SENDHEADERS_VERSION) {
@@ -3909,11 +3909,54 @@ void PeerManager::ConsiderEviction(CNode& pto, int64_t time_in_seconds)
 
 void PeerManager::EvictExtraOutboundPeers(int64_t time_in_seconds)
 {
-    // Check whether we have too many outbound peers
-    int extra_peers = m_connman.GetExtraOutboundCount();
-    if (extra_peers > 0) {
-        // If we have more outbound peers than we target, disconnect one.
-        // Pick the outbound peer that least recently announced
+    // If we have any extra block-relay-only peers, disconnect the youngest unless
+    // it's given us a block -- in which case, compare with the second-youngest, and
+    // out of those two, disconnect the peer who least recently gave us a block.
+    // The youngest block-relay-only peer would be the extra peer we connected
+    // to temporarily in order to sync our tip; see net.cpp.
+    // Note that we use higher nodeid as a measure for most recent connection.
+    if (m_connman.GetExtraBlockRelayCount() > 0) {
+        std::pair<NodeId, int64_t> youngest_peer{-1, 0}, next_youngest_peer{-1, 0};
+
+        m_connman.ForEachNode([&](CNode* pnode) {
+            if (!pnode->IsBlockOnlyConn() || pnode->fDisconnect) return;
+            if (pnode->GetId() > youngest_peer.first) {
+                next_youngest_peer = youngest_peer;
+                youngest_peer.first = pnode->GetId();
+                youngest_peer.second = pnode->nLastBlockTime;
+            }
+        });
+        NodeId to_disconnect = youngest_peer.first;
+        if (youngest_peer.second > next_youngest_peer.second) {
+            // Our newest block-relay-only peer gave us a block more recently;
+            // disconnect our second youngest.
+            to_disconnect = next_youngest_peer.first;
+        }
+        m_connman.ForNode(to_disconnect, [&](CNode* pnode) EXCLUSIVE_LOCKS_REQUIRED(::cs_main) {
+            AssertLockHeld(::cs_main);
+            // Make sure we're not getting a block right now, and that
+            // we've been connected long enough for this eviction to happen
+            // at all.
+            // Note that we only request blocks from a peer if we learn of a
+            // valid headers chain with at least as much work as our tip.
+            CNodeState *node_state = State(pnode->GetId());
+            if (node_state == nullptr ||
+                (time_in_seconds - pnode->nTimeConnected >= MINIMUM_CONNECT_TIME && node_state->nBlocksInFlight == 0)) {
+                pnode->fDisconnect = true;
+                LogPrint(BCLog::NET, "disconnecting extra block-relay-only peer=%d (last block received at time %d)\n", pnode->GetId(), pnode->nLastBlockTime);
+                return true;
+            } else {
+                LogPrint(BCLog::NET, "keeping block-relay-only peer=%d chosen for eviction (connect time: %d, blocks_in_flight: %d)\n",
+                    pnode->GetId(), pnode->nTimeConnected, node_state->nBlocksInFlight);
+            }
+            return false;
+        });
+    }
+
+    // Check whether we have too many OUTBOUND_FULL_RELAY peers
+    if (m_connman.GetExtraFullOutboundCount() > 0) {
+        // If we have more OUTBOUND_FULL_RELAY peers than we target, disconnect one.
+        // Pick the OUTBOUND_FULL_RELAY peer that least recently announced
         // us a new block, with ties broken by choosing the more recent
         // connection (higher node id)
         NodeId worst_peer = -1;
@@ -3922,14 +3965,13 @@ void PeerManager::EvictExtraOutboundPeers(int64_t time_in_seconds)
         m_connman.ForEachNode([&](CNode* pnode) EXCLUSIVE_LOCKS_REQUIRED(::cs_main) {
             AssertLockHeld(::cs_main);
 
-            // Ignore non-outbound peers, or nodes marked for disconnect already
-            if (!pnode->IsOutboundOrBlockRelayConn() || pnode->fDisconnect) return;
+            // Only consider OUTBOUND_FULL_RELAY peers that are not already
+            // marked for disconnection
+            if (!pnode->IsFullOutboundConn() || pnode->fDisconnect) return;
             CNodeState *state = State(pnode->GetId());
             if (state == nullptr) return; // shouldn't be possible, but just in case
             // Don't evict our protected peers
             if (state->m_chain_sync.m_protect) return;
-            // Don't evict our block-relay-only peers.
-            if (pnode->m_tx_relay == nullptr) return;
             if (state->m_last_block_announcement < oldest_block_announcement || (state->m_last_block_announcement == oldest_block_announcement && pnode->GetId() > worst_peer)) {
                 worst_peer = pnode->GetId();
                 oldest_block_announcement = state->m_last_block_announcement;
@@ -3985,6 +4027,11 @@ void PeerManager::CheckForStaleTipAndEvictPeers()
         }
         m_stale_tip_check_time = time_in_seconds + STALE_CHECK_INTERVAL;
     }
+
+    if (!m_initial_sync_finished && CanDirectFetch(m_chainparams.GetConsensus())) {
+        m_connman.StartExtraBlockRelayPeers();
+        m_initial_sync_finished = true;
+    }
 }
 
 namespace {

src/net_processing.h

@@ -206,6 +206,10 @@ class PeerManager final : public CValidationInterface, public NetEventsInterface
     //* Whether this node is running in blocks only mode */
     const bool m_ignore_incoming_txs;
 
+    /** Whether we've completed initial sync yet, for determining when to turn
+      * on extra block-relay-only peers. */
+    bool m_initial_sync_finished{false};
+
     /** Protects m_peer_map */
     mutable Mutex m_peer_mutex;
     /**

src/test/fuzz/connman.cpp

@@ -145,7 +145,7 @@ void test_one_input(const std::vector<uint8_t>& buffer)
     }
     (void)connman.GetAddedNodeInfo();
     (void)connman.GetBestHeight();
-    (void)connman.GetExtraOutboundCount();
+    (void)connman.GetExtraFullOutboundCount();
     (void)connman.GetLocalServices();
     (void)connman.GetMaxOutboundTarget();
     (void)connman.GetMaxOutboundTimeframe();