Top Ten Most Serious Software Bugs

By Xah Lee. Date: .

Top ten most serious software bugs

ChatGPT answers

  1. Therac-25 Radiation Therapy Machine (1985-1987): Software and hardware errors in a medical device resulted in radiation overdoses, causing injuries and deaths.
  2. Patriot Missile System (1991): A software bug in the Patriot missile system's clock caused it to misinterpret the time, leading to the failure to intercept an incoming Scud missile during the Gulf War.
  3. Ariane 5 Flight 501 (1996): A software bug in the guidance system caused the rocket to veer off course and self-destruct shortly after launch.
  4. Intel Pentium FDIV Bug (1994): A flaw in the floating-point unit (FPU) calculations of certain Intel Pentium processors led to inaccuracies in mathematical computations.
  5. Year 2000 (Y2K) Bug (2000): Many computer systems were not prepared for the transition from 1999 to 2000, potentially causing malfunctions due to date-related issues.
  6. CodeRed (2001): A computer worm that attacked systems running Microsoft IIS web server, causing disruptions and defacing websites.
  7. AOL Search Data Leak (2006): A privacy bug in AOL's search system accidentally exposed sensitive user search data.
  8. Windows Metafile Vulnerability (2005): A vulnerability in Microsoft Windows allowed attackers to execute arbitrary code through malicious image files.
  9. Heartbleed (2014): A flaw in OpenSSL's implementation exposed sensitive data, including usernames, passwords, and cryptographic keys.
  10. Shellshock (2014): A vulnerability in the Bash shell allowed remote attackers to execute arbitrary code on Unix-based systems.
  11. Stagefright (2015): A series of critical vulnerabilities in the Android operating system's media playback engine allowed attackers to remotely access and control devices.
  12. Volkswagen Emission Scandal (2015): While not a traditional software bug, a deliberate software manipulation in Volkswagen cars deceived emission tests.
  13. Cloudbleed (2017): A bug in the Cloudflare web security service leaked sensitive data from various websites.
  14. Spectre and Meltdown (2018): A set of vulnerabilities in modern microprocessors, allowing unauthorized access to sensitive data.
  15. Boeing 737 MAX MCAS (2018-2019): Software issues, including the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS), were implicated in two fatal airplane crashes.
  16. Zoom Security and Privacy Issues (2020): Various security and privacy concerns emerged in the popular video conferencing software Zoom.
  17. SolarWinds Cyberattack (2020): A supply chain attack targeted SolarWinds' Orion software, leading to widespread cyber compromises.
  18. COVID-19 Vaccine Appointment Software Issues (2021): Some vaccination appointment scheduling systems faced technical challenges, including crashes and glitches.
  19. Colonial Pipeline Ransomware Attack (2021): While not a software bug, a ransomware attack on Colonial Pipeline disrupted fuel supplies in the U.S.
  20. Facebook Outage (2021): A configuration change caused a global outage of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp services.

Top 10 Spaceship Disasters Due to Software

from Wikipedia List of software bugs

  1. A booster went off course during launch, resulting in the destruction of NASA Mariner 1. This was the result of the failure of a transcriber to notice an overbar in a written specification for the guidance program, resulting in the coding of an incorrect formula in its FORTRAN software. (July 22, 1962).[2] The initial reporting of the cause of this bug was incorrect.[3]
  2. NASA's 1965 Gemini 5 mission landed 80 miles (130 km) short of its intended splashdown point when the pilot compensated manually for an incorrect constant for the Earth's rotation rate. A 360-degree rotation corresponding to the Earth's rotation relative to the fixed stars was used instead of the 360.98-degree rotation in a 24-hour solar day. The shorter length of the first three missions and a computer failure on Gemini 4 prevented the bug from being detected earlier.[4]
  3. The Russian Space Research Institute's Phobos 1 (Phobos program) deactivated its attitude thrusters and could no longer properly orient its solar arrays or communicate with Earth, eventually depleting its batteries. (September 10, 1988).[5]
  4. The European Space Agency's Ariane flight V88 was destroyed 40 seconds after takeoff (June 4, 1996). The first flight of the US$1 billion Ariane V rocket self-destructed due to an overflow occurring during a floating-point to integer conversion in the on-board guidance software. The same software had been used successfully in the Ariane IV program, but the Ariane V produced larger values for some variable, causing the overflow.[6][7]
  5. In 1997, the Mars Pathfinder mission was jeopardised by a bug in concurrent software shortly after the rover landed, which was found in preflight testing but given a low priority as it only occurred in certain unanticipated heavy-load conditions.[8] The problem, which was identified and corrected from Earth, was due to computer resets caused by priority inversion.[9]
  6. In 2000, a Zenit 3SL launch failed due to faulty ground software not closing a valve in the rocket's second stage pneumatic system.[10]
  7. The European Space Agency's CryoSat-1 satellite was lost in a launch failure in 2005 due to a missing shutdown command in the flight control system of its Rokot carrier rocket.[11]
  8. NASA Mars Polar Lander was destroyed because its flight software mistook vibrations caused by the deployment of the stowed legs for evidence that the vehicle had landed and shut off the engines 40 meters from the Martian surface (December 3, 1999).[12]
  9. Its sister spacecraft Mars Climate Orbiter was also destroyed, due to software on the ground generating commands based on parameters in pound-force (lbf) rather than newtons (N).
  10. A mis-sent command from Earth caused the software of the NASA Mars Global Surveyor to incorrectly assume that a motor had failed, causing it to point one of its batteries at the sun. This caused the battery to overheat (November 2, 2006).[13][14]
  11. NASA's Spirit rover became unresponsive on January 21, 2004, a few weeks after landing on Mars. Engineers found that too many files had accumulated in the rover's flash memory. It was restored to working condition after deleting unnecessary files.[15]
  12. Japan's Hitomi astronomical satellite was destroyed on March 26, 2016, when a thruster fired in the wrong direction, causing the spacecraft to spin faster instead of stabilize.[16]
  13. Israel's first attempt to land an uncrewed spacecraft on the moon with the Beresheet was rendered unsuccessful on April 11, 2019, due to a software bug with its engine system, which prevented it from slowing down during its final descent on the moon's surface. Engineers attempted to correct this bug by remotely rebooting the engine, but by the time they regained control of it, Beresheet could not slow down in time to avert a hard, crash landing that disintegrated it.[17]

chatGPT answers

  1. Soyuz 1 (1967): While not a software issue, a hardware failure in the spacecraft's parachute system led to the death of cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov during re-entry.
  2. Ariane 501 (1996): The Ariane 5 rocket's maiden flight ended in failure due to a software error. A data conversion error caused the rocket's guidance system to fail, leading to its destruction shortly after liftoff.
  3. Mars Climate Orbiter (1999): A navigation software error resulted in the spacecraft entering Mars' atmosphere at too low an altitude, causing it to burn up. The issue was traced back to a mismatch between metric and imperial units in the software.
  4. Mars Polar Lander (1999): The Mars Polar Lander's descent engines shut off prematurely, likely due to a software glitch. The spacecraft's landing was unsuccessful, and communication was lost.
  5. Mars Odyssey Orbiter (2001): A software bug caused repeated reboots of the spacecraft's onboard computer, temporarily disrupting communication with Earth.
  6. Hayabusa (2003-2010): The Japanese spacecraft Hayabusa experienced various challenges during its mission to collect samples from an asteroid, including software anomalies and issues with its sample collection mechanism.
  7. Genesis (2004): The Genesis spacecraft, which collected solar wind particles, crash-landed in the Utah desert due to a design flaw in the software that controlled the craft's parachute deployment.
  8. Mars Spirit Rover (2004): A flash memory issue occurred on the Spirit rover, causing repeated reboots. This issue was eventually addressed through software updates.
  9. Soyuz TMA-11 (2008): During the return from the International Space Station, a software error in the separation sequence of the Soyuz spacecraft led to an incorrect re-entry trajectory. The crew landed safely but farther from the intended site.
  10. Galaxy 15 Satellite (2010): A communication satellite suffered a software anomaly that caused it to drift out of its assigned orbital slot, potentially interfering with other satellites in its path.
  11. Mars Opportunity Rover (2011): Similar to Spirit, Opportunity experienced a flash memory problem causing frequent reboots. Software updates were implemented to resolve the issue.
  12. Falcon 9 CRS-1 (2012): A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying cargo to the International Space Station experienced a software glitch in one of its thrusters. The mission was successful, but the glitch prompted a thorough investigation.
  13. Soyuz MS-10 (2018): A launch failure occurred when the Soyuz spacecraft carrying two astronauts had to make an emergency landing due to a separation failure between the rocket's first and second stages. The investigation revealed a sensor was damaged during the rocket's assembly.
  14. Boeing CST-100 Starliner OFT (2019): Boeing's CST-100 Starliner's uncrewed Orbital Flight Test (OFT) mission had a software timing error that prevented it from reaching the International Space Station (ISS) as planned.
  15. Vega VV17 (2020): The Vega rocket's failure during the launch of the FalconEye1 satellite was linked to a cable inversion in the rocket's avionics bay, affecting its flight control software.
  16. Ingenuity Mars Helicopter (2021): The Ingenuity helicopter experienced a software issue during its first attempted flight on Mars. The issue was identified and resolved through a software update.

Software Engineering Voodoo