Polygon experiences finalization outage due to node bug
On Sept. 10, the Polygon blockchain ran into transaction finalization issues due to a bug in the Bor and Erigon software clients used to run nodes. The incident affected certain RPC services and validator synchronization, but the network never stopped and continued producing blocks.
According to the project’s status page, the bug caused delays in transaction confirmations. Some RPC providers and validators had to roll back to the last finalized block and resync their nodes. Polygon noted that restarting resolved the issue for some participants.
A company representative explained that Polygonscan (the network’s main block explorer) also stopped displaying new blocks because its own nodes stalled at the faulty checkpoint. Users were given an alternative link showing that blocks were still being produced.
Analysis showed the problem stemmed from the Heimdall finalization module, which generates checkpoints every few seconds. The bug halted milestone generation, leaving transactions “hanging” until checkpoints were published to Ethereum every 20 minutes.
Polygon said it is working with key infrastructure partners to fix the error. “We’ve identified a solution and started rolling it out to validators and service providers,” the team stated. They added that checkpoint finalization is now operating normally with no more than a 15-minute delay.
Linea joined the list of affected networks today, going offline for 41 minutes after its sequencer failed. Ethreum L2 networks Base and Starknet also experienced similar outages in recent weeks, caused by issues with their sequencer nodes.
Both networks stressed that the incident posed no threat to network security and did not affect user funds.
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