Paper 2016/1007 Original: eprint.iacr.org/2016/1007 ↗

A survey of attacks on Ethereum smart contracts

Nicola Atzei
Massimo Bartoletti
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.

Metadata
Available format(s)
PDF
Category
Applications
Publication info
Preprint.
History
2016-12-14: last updated
2016-10-26: published
Short URL
https://ia.cr/2016/1007
License
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

BibTeX

@misc{cryptoeprint:2016/1007,
      author = {Nicola Atzei and Massimo Bartoletti and Tiziana Cimoli},
      title = {A survey of attacks on Ethereum smart contracts},
      howpublished = {Cryptology {ePrint} Archive, Paper 2016/1007},
      year = {2016},
      url = {https://eprint.iacr.org/2016/1007}
}
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