Dusk (@DuskFoundation): Development Update: Aegis Protocol Upgrade

Development Update: Aegis Protocol Upgrade The Aegis protocol upgrade activated successfully on March 3rd at 11:00 UTC. The network is running smoothly and performing as expected. Aegis is the most critical security and stability upgrade to the Dusk network since mainnet launch. What is Aegis Aegis is the result of an extensive internal security analysis of Rusk. The team conducted a thorough review of the protocol stack, and with this upgrade, all critical findings from that analysis have been addressed. The network is now considerably more stable under adversarial conditions, and the protocol's overall security has been significantly strengthened. What Changed Aegis introduced a hardening pass across transaction verification, proof handling, and runtime input validation. The upgrade includes stricter verification paths, stronger decoding and bounds checks, and improved behavior under malformed or adversarial inputs. Dependency versions have been pinned and updated across the stack to reduce drift and improve operational safety. These changes were validated through targeted replay and snapshot checks alongside regression testing to confirm compatibility and stable execution. Protocol Compatibility Aegis introduced protocol-level compatibility changes, which means W3sper, the web wallet, and the Rusk wallet CLI all had to be updated. Transaction creation no longer works with older versions, so it is key that everyone upgrades asap. The web wallet has already been updated on our side. No action required from users. Rusk Wallet CLI v0.3.0 Alongside the protocol compatibility update, the new Rusk wallet release is the most feature-complete version of the CLI wallet we have released, with improvements across configuration, usability, transaction management, and security. Smarter Configuration The wallet now supports a layered configuration system. Global settings live at ~/.config/rusk-wallet/ and are auto-created on first run. Users running multiple wallet profiles can share common settings like node URLs through the global config while retaining the ability to override per profile. The default wallet directory is also now configurable, giving operators managing multiple nodes or non-standard filesystem layouts full control over where wallet data is stored. Rebuilt Interactive Mode Interactive mode has been significantly improved. The wallet now provides real-time status output during operations like syncing, proving, and communicating with the node, so you always know whether it is working or waiting. Staking and contract commands have been organized into dedicated submenus, replacing the previous flat menu that grew harder to navigate as features were added. Navigation between menus is now fully consistent, with back and exit behaving predictably at every level. Before submitting any transaction, the wallet now verifies your balance can cover the maximum possible fee, preventing failed transactions from insufficient gas. More Control Over Staking Rewards You can now claim a specific amount of staking rewards instead of being forced to withdraw everything at once. The command has also been renamed from "withdraw" to "claim rewards" for clarity, since "withdraw" was too easily confused with unstaking. Reliable Transaction History Transaction history has been completely stabilized. All edge cases have been resolved. History entries now display clear, descriptive action labels like "Transfer," "Stake," "Unstake," "Claim Rewards," and "Shield" instead of cryptic internal names. Each entry also shows whether the transaction was public (Moonlight) or shielded (Phoenix), and fees display as negative values for clearer accounting. If you are connected to a non-archive node, the wallet now tells you explicitly that history requires an archive node instead of returning a generic error. Tighter Security Sensitive data, including private keys, seed phrases, and passwords, is now securely zeroed from memory after use, preventing exposure through memory dumps or swap files. The default gas limit for transfers has been adjusted to a safer value that reliably covers standard operations without overpaying. Under the Hood The codebase has been updated to Rust edition 2024 with a minimum supported Rust version of 1.85, keeping the wallet aligned with the latest stable toolchain. External dependencies have been reduced by replacing serde_as with stable serde(with) attributes. Support for blob transactions has been added. The archive node endpoint has been separated from the state endpoint, giving infrastructure operators more flexibility in how they route queries. Upgrade Now Download the new Rusk wallet directly: https://github.com/dusk-network/rusk/releases/tag/rusk-wallet-0.3.0 Or update via the latest node installer: https://github.com/dusk-network/node-installer/releases/tag/v0.5.16 Aegis is the most significant protocol upgrade in Dusk's history, delivering a substantially hardened network ready for what comes next. More updates to follow. Stay tuned!