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arXiv · 1711.09327

Designing Secure Ethereum Smart Contracts: A Finite State Machine Based Approach

Anastasia Mavridou·Aron Laszka
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Abstract

The adoption of blockchain-based distributed computation platforms is growing fast. Some of these platforms, such as Ethereum, provide support for implementing smart contracts, which are envisioned to have novel applications in a broad range of areas, including finance and Internet-of-Things. However, a significant number of smart contracts deployed in practice suffer from security vulnerabilities, which enable malicious users to steal assets from a contract or to cause damage. Vulnerabilities present a serious issue since contracts may handle financial assets of considerable value, and contract bugs are non-fixable by design. To help developers create more secure smart contracts, we introduce FSolidM, a framework rooted in rigorous semantics for designing con- tracts as Finite State Machines (FSM). We present a tool for creating FSM on an easy-to-use graphical interface and for automatically generating Ethereum contracts. Further, we introduce a set of design patterns, which we implement as plugins that developers can easily add to their contracts to enhance security and functionality.

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Anastasia Mavridou, Aron Laszka. 2017-11-26. Designing Secure Ethereum Smart Contracts: A Finite State Machine Based Approach. https://arxiv.org/abs/1711.09327

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