Smart contacts have become necessary for every business to operate. They automate complicated processes and make it possible for companies to thrive in the financial world and carry out smooth transactions without the interference of any third party.
On the flip side, smart contracts are also vulnerable to a plethora of security issues that become the favorite target of hackers. They turn them into expensive exploits and lead to the loss of funds for the business. A smart contract security audit from a credible organization can save you from this situation.
In this blog, we will pay attention to the top issues in smart contracts and let you know different ways of mitigating them. So, without any further ado, let us get started.
Table of Contents
Top 5 Smart Contract Issues
Smart contracts are integral to the blockchain ecosystem. And smart contracts make blockchain vulnerable. After all, they are just programs always under the threat of bugs.
So, these are the top 5 issues that a smart contract auditor finds most of the time in the codes:
- Redundant entries
Maintaining track of all the data your smart contracts rely on is critical since duplicate inputs might cause confusion and mistakes. An additional duplicate of information kept in a blockchain is referred to as a redundant entry. This may occur when a user unintentionally performs many transactions at once or when a smart contract incorrectly updates its internal information.
- Dependency on transaction execution order
The primary reason why security issues arise is that the outcome of a contract depends on the order of transactions. For example- if one transaction is dependent on the results of the other, if we change the order of these codes, then the contract would malfunction. If you wish to avoid this situation, ensure that the smart contract functions maintain the transaction sequence.
- Miscalculations related to the amount of output token
This security flaw happens when a smart contract estimates the value of a token incorrectly due to a programming error. This might have major repercussions for firms that depend on these contracts to perform transactions. Before making your smart contracts available to the public, it’s crucial to test them to avoid this properly.
- Handling exceptions incorrectly
Often, smart contracts may show unintended behavior that can cause serious damage if not handled properly. Some errors occur during the execution of the program, which is known as exceptions. Thus, it is mandatory to eliminate the smart contract vulnerability to eliminate exceptions.
- Indirect execution of unknown code
When one smart contract contacts another that uses malicious code, a security problem occurs. As a result, the original contract may be carried out without the owner’s knowledge or approval. To prevent this, examine the code or libraries your smart contracts rely on in-depth.
Now, we have come to the solutions for preventing these security issues.
How To Prevent Smart Contract Security Issues?
As per the best cybersecurity professionals in the world, the best way to prevent issues in smart contracts is by combining static code analysis.
What is static code analysis?
The smart contract auditors review the code without executing it in this testing process. One of the greatest benefits of static code analysis is that you can easily find the errors in coding and the bugs in them simultaneously while developing the smart contract.
What is penetration testing?
The process of attacking the system to determine all the weaknesses is known as Penetration testing. It helps identify the potential security issue, which gets to be known after deploying the smart contract on the blockchain.
Using these two techniques, you may dramatically lower the likelihood of smart contract security problems. However, it’s crucial to remember that no system is faultless and that there are always some hazards. As a result, it’s crucial to update and test your contracts periodically.
You can improve your understanding of how an attacker can exploit your smart contract to influence transactions by conducting penetration testing. By doing this, you may find possible vulnerabilities before bad actors do and remedy them.
Understanding how your contract handles mistakes and exceptions may also be aided by penetration testing. Using this knowledge may strengthen your contract’s stability and lower the likelihood that it will fail or malfunction.
Final Thoughts:
Smart contracts are still in their nascent stages of development. Although protecting them remains a problem, you may greatly lower the possibility of your contract being compromised by static code analysis and penetration testing.
However, it’s crucial to remember that no system is faultless and that there are always some hazards. Therefore, it’s crucial to frequently verify your smart contracts to ensure they remain safe.
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