Understanding Bitcoin's 'Magic Bytes' and Transaction Security

[raybucks]

How do Bitcoin's "magic bytes" ensure that transactions are correctly identified and processed by the network,
and what happens if these magic bytes are tampered with or misused in a transaction ?

[Zaguru12]

Magic bytes are not used to identify transactions rather it is a message identifier sent between two nodes. Messages on the network are continuous streams of data, so this four bytes called magical bytes are like the indicators of where a message starts and end.

It doesn’t have any special meaning in bitcoin blockchain not even stored on the block. It is just a programming code use by programmers, nothing too special about it. And they don’t start bitcoin transactions either

Look here https://learnmeabitcoin.com

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_number_(programming

[Nheer]

Magic bytes are short strings of numbers and letters that are used to distinguish between distinct messages transmitted by various network nodes. The same magic bytes are usually used to start messages transmitted to or received from a given node, making it simple to determine which node you are connected to and which message was delivered to you. However, these magic bytes vary depending on the network you are connected to.

Since they are merely message indicators, I don't see how they may be utilised improperly, but if there appears to be a mistake, the other node won't be able to understand the message, where it starts or ends.

Above me are link provided where you can learn more about magic bytes for proper understanding.

[seek3r]

How do Bitcoin's "magic bytes" ensure that transactions are correctly identified and processed by the network,
and what happens if these magic bytes are tampered with or misused in a transaction ?

'Magic bytes' help nodes to parse the incoming data.
Nodes are searching for the specific sequence of bytes that is defined as the 'magic bytes' which helps them to identify the beginning of new block data.

The version bytes ensure that addresses are processed correctly in the right network. For example: This different bytes prevents someone to send Bitcoin to a Bitcoin-Cash address which has different version bytes than Bitcoin.


To ur point about tampered or misued magic bytes there is a pretty simple answer:
The node will not recognize the specific block. Following to this the block will not go thru the network and might be markes as 'invalid'.

It will be rejected by the network.

[pooya87]

Did you just read this topic and then rephrased the question or did you actually read it in a different "educational" source that led you to this confusion?

Because I'm curious as to what source mentions "magic byte" and usage in transaction and in what context that creates such a confusion. The topics are just too different and unrelated. Magic byte should be in under completely different category where the network messages and communication is discussed, that category should not create any link between "magic byte" and "transaction security" in the mind of the reader.

[NotATether]

For your information, all files and internet data have magic bytes. Magic bytes are like a signature to help you identify the file format - this is why the computer can distinguish between "PNG image" and "HTML document" even when there is no file extension.

Bitcoin also has magic bytes, and these are literally bytes at the beginning of the file (as most applications of magic bytes are), not legible ASCII text.