Smart contract security auditing

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Smart contract security auditing is a topic that I am going to share. I would like to talk about some steps that are involved in smart contract security auditing and along with this I would love to share practical example of my topic so let me share it in detail.

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If I talk about smart contract security auditing then it is a process to review and analyze smart contracts for identification of different security vulnerabilities. This is important due to a reason that smart contracts are contracts which are self executing with terms of its agreement written directly in lines of code. If there are flaws in code then it can lead to security risks, economic losses.

Auditing is a process which involves combination of manual review, automated tools, and testing.There are different steps which are involved in smart contract security auditing that I am explaining below;

1. Code Review:This is a complete review of smart contract code for identification of any syntax errors,any type of logical flaws, or security beaches.

2. Testing: Testing is another step which involves checking smart contract functionality for identification of flaws or weaknesses.

3. Automated Tools:By the use of automated tools like static analysis tools, dynamic analysis tools it can be helpful for identification of potential vulnerabilities.

4. Threat Modeling:Threat modeling used for identification of significant threats and different attacks at smart contract.

As an example

Consider that we have smart contract for a platform that is decentralized lending.Now the contract would permit users to lend and borrow different crypto assets, and its function is in liquidation of crypto assets if borrowers are defaulting.In auditing process auditor search out for reentrancy vulnerability in the liquidity function.

Reentrancy vulnerability is a sort of attack in which smart contract calls another smart contract and that contract changes its state in that manner that it permits it to be reffered again in repeated way. It could be a leading cause of unintended behavior, like unlimited asset creation and you can also consider draining of assets.

For exploitation of this sort of vulnerability, an attacker is allowed to create an illicit contract that, when reffered by lending contract so it changes its state for giving more open opportunities of repeated calls.It could permits attacker to repeat liquidity in crypto assets,which can drain contract of all its crypto assets.

For fixing that vulnerability, the auditor advice to modify liquidity function for using "checks-effects-interactions" pattern, which is a way of preventing reentrancy attacks by giving surety that contract state is updated only after all external callshas been created.

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Now I want to summarize my topic that smart contract security auditing is a significant process for ensuring security and integrity of smart contracts. It is helpful in identification of potential vulnerabilities and bugs, and it measures to solve them which prevent significant security breaches and economic losses.