On Identifying Sound Conditions for Frontrunning Resistance
Researchers formally define smart-contract frontrunning resistance, showing 55% of 393 audited vulnerabilities escape state-of-the-art detection, and find two undisclosed Ethereum flaws.
The paper gives the first formal definition of frontrunning vulnerability for smart contracts, grounded in how honest users interact with contracts rather than contract code alone. In a large-scale study of 287 smart contract audits, 55% of the 393 vulnerabilities reported by leading auditors fall outside the scope of state-of-the-art dynamic detection criteria. The authors present a sound algorithm for synthesizing secure interaction conditions and apply it to real-world contracts, uncovering previously undiscovered vulnerabilities in two Ethereum contracts.
- First formal definition of frontrunning vulnerability tied to honest-user interaction
- 55% of 393 audited vulnerabilities fall outside state-of-the-art detection criteria
- Sound algorithm synthesizes secure interaction conditions; two new Ethereum vulnerabilities found
- Vendors
- Ethereum
From the original article
1 min read at arxiv.orgBlockchains enable decentralized applications through smart contracts---interactive programs executed through consensus. However, the inherently asynchronous nature of blockchain transaction ordering introduces a class of vulnerabilities known as frontrunning attacks, which have caused millions of dollars in losses in major blockchains, such as Ethereum.
By Sebastian Holler · arxiv.org
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