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SecurityQuiet 6d · day 6

NATS publishes root cause of UK air traffic outage: software bug in flight code allocation

UK air traffic control operator traces September 8 disruption to millisecond data corruption in a subsection of flight data system code.

newest coverage 5d agosummary written 5d ago7 pieces161 likes & upvotes33 comments Hacker NewsMastodonNewswires

What to know

  • NATS traced the September 8 UK airspace disruption to a software defect in its National Airspace System that failed to properly resume processing a manual aircraft code request after being paused for higher-priority activity.
  • The defect caused data corruption in milliseconds, affecting flight data updates and forcing controllers to restrict air traffic to maintain safety.
  • CEO confirmed the incident was unrelated to the August 2023 outage and dismissed speculation about military involvement or cybersecurity attacks.
most voices

The incident was a straightforward software bug, not a cybersecurity attack or military action.

  • “Nothing to do with cybersecurity. It was just a software bug leading to data corruption for a single flight.”

    GossiTheDog · Mastodon ↗

Martin Rolfe NATS Chief Executive OfficerHeidi AlexanderHeidi Alexander UK Secretary of State for TransportNATS UK air traffic control service provider

NATS publishes root cause of UK air traffic outage: software bug in flight code allocation
nats.aero

How it unfolded 1 development · click the chart to see its coverage articlesposts

Peak 5 pieces in two hours at Sep 18, 8 AM; 7 pieces over 6 days (2 articles · 5 posts) Sep 18, 8 AM — 5 pieces · 2 articles · 3 posts — Hacker News 2, Newswires 2, Mastodon 1Sep 18, 10 AM — 1 piece · 1 post — Mastodon 1Sep 18, 12 PM — quietSep 18, 2 PM — 1 piece · 1 post — Mastodon 1Sep 18, 4 PM — quietSep 18, 6 PM — quietSep 18, 8 PM — quietSep 18, 10 PM — quietSep 19, 12 AM — quietSep 19, 2 AM — quietSep 19, 4 AM — quietSep 19, 6 AM — quietSep 19, 8 AM — quietSep 19, 10 AM — quietSep 19, 12 PM — quietSep 19, 2 PM — quietSep 19, 4 PM — quietSep 19, 6 PM — quietSep 19, 8 PM — quietSep 19, 10 PM — quietSep 20, 12 AM — quietSep 20, 2 AM — quietSep 20, 4 AM — quietSep 20, 6 AM — quietSep 20, 8 AM — quietSep 20, 10 AM — quietSep 20, 12 PM — quietSep 20, 2 PM — quietSep 20, 4 PM — quietSep 20, 6 PM — quietSep 20, 8 PM — quietSep 20, 10 PM — quietSep 21, 12 AM — quietSep 21, 2 AM — quietSep 21, 4 AM — quietSep 21, 6 AM — quietSep 21, 8 AM — quietSep 21, 10 AM — quietSep 21, 12 PM — quietSep 21, 2 PM — quietSep 21, 4 PM — quietSep 21, 6 PM — quietSep 21, 8 PM — quietSep 21, 10 PM — quietSep 22, 12 AM — quietSep 22, 2 AM — quietSep 22, 4 AM — quietSep 22, 6 AM — quietSep 22, 8 AM — quietSep 22, 10 AM — quietSep 22, 12 PM — quietSep 22, 2 PM — quietSep 22, 4 PM — quietSep 22, 6 PM — quietSep 22, 8 PM — quietSep 22, 10 PM — quietYesterday, 12 AM — quietYesterday, 2 AM — quietYesterday, 4 AM — quietYesterday, 6 AM — quietYesterday, 8 AM — quietYesterday, 10 AM — quietYesterday, 12 PM — quietYesterday, 2 PM — quietYesterday, 4 PM — quietYesterday, 6 PM — quietYesterday, 8 PM — quietYesterday, 10 PM — quietToday, 12 AM — quietToday, 2 AM — quiet 1
Sep 19Sep 20Sep 21Sep 22yesterdaynow · 4:44 AM ET
  1. 1

    NATS CEO confirms no military intervention, unrelated to 2023 outage

    Martin Rolfe dismissed speculation that the incident was caused by military intervention and clarified that it was unrelated to the major system outage in August 2023. He stated that mitigation measures are in place while a permanent fix undergoes safety testing.

    “The issue has been identified and mitigation is in place while a permanent fix is safety tested and deployed.”
    — Martin Rolfe, NATS CEO
    • GossiTheDog@cyberplace.social

      Root cause analysis for the air traffic control outage in the UK has been published, for anybody interested. Nothing to do with cybersecurity. It was just a software bug leading to data corruption for a single flight. https://www. nats.aero/news/nats-publishes- preliminary-report-on-technical-incident-of-8-september/

      GossiTheDog@cyberplace.socialMastodon5d ago96▲view on Mastodon ↗
    1 more of the top 2 · 2 posts in this stretch
    • TimWardCam@c.im

      Looks like it was a bog standard multithreading bug and not a Russian attack this time. https://www. nats.aero/wp-content/uploads/2 026/09/NATS-Preliminary-Investigation-Report-into-NAS-Incident-on-08-Sept-2026-Issued-16-Sept-2026.pdf

      TimWardCam@c.imMastodon5d agoview on Mastodon ↗
    all of them →
  2. background

    NATS publishes preliminary investigation report identifying root cause — NATS released its preliminary report at the request of Secretary of State for Transport Heidi Alexander. The report identifies the root cause as a software defect in the code allocation subsystem of the National Airspace System. The defect occurred when a manual aircraft code request was paused for higher-priority processing, then failed to resume correctly, resulting in corrupted output affecting subsequent flight data updates—all within milliseconds.

  3. background

    Software defect causes widespread air traffic disruption across UK — A software bug in NATS's flight data system caused data corruption that led to restrictions on air traffic across UK airspace to maintain safety. Controllers had reduced information available due to corrupted flight data updates.

Also covered reported alongside — the timeline has no entry for these yet

  1. 1 outlet NATS publishes preliminary report on technical incident of 8 September

    first by HN Frontpage, 5d ago

    1 more headline

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