Upcoming paper: A survey of attacks on Ethereum smart contracts

Post date: 24-Mar-2017 20:38:04

Upcoming paper (to be presented at POST 2017)

A survey of attacks on Ethereum smart contracts

Nicola Atzei, Massimo Bartoletti, and Tiziana Cimoli

Abstract. Smart contracts are computer programs that can be correctly executed by a network of mutually distrusting nodes, without the need of an external trusted authority. Since smart contracts handle and transfer assets of considerable value, besides their correct execution it is also crucial that their implementation is secure against attacks which aim at stealing or tampering the assets. We study this problem in Ethereum, the most well-known and used framework for smart contracts so far. We analyse the security vulnerabilities of Ethereum smart contracts, providing a taxonomy of common programming pitfalls which may lead to vulnerabilities. We show a series of attacks which exploit these vulnerabilities, allowing an adversary to steal money or cause other damage.

The detailed code of attacks is available here.