Exploiting The Laws of Order in Smart Contracts

• Published in: arXiv.org
• Main Authors: Kolluri, Aashish, Nikolic, Ivica, Sergey, Ilya, Hobor, Aquinas, Saxena, Prateek
• Format: Paper
• Language: English
• Published: Ithaca Cornell University Library, arXiv.org 27.10.2018
• Subjects: Blockchain; Combinatorial analysis; Concurrency; Contracts; Cryptography; Flags; Model reduction; Permutations; User requirements

We investigate a family of bugs in blockchain-based smart contracts, which we call event-ordering (or EO) bugs. These bugs are intimately related to the dynamic ordering of contract events, i.e., calls of its functions on the blockchain, and enable potential exploits of millions of USD worth of Ethe...