Demystifying Fuzzing
Nat Chin
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Hi! I’m Nat!
● Blockchain Security Engineer at Trail of Bits
● I figure out where things can break
● Fell down the rabbit hole in 2017
● Former smart contract developer & blockchain professor
● Author of solc-select
● Twitter: @0xicingdeath
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Agenda
● Defining Invariants
● Writing properties
● Fuzzing!
● Finding fun bugs
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Fuzzing
● Define assumptions meant to hold true
● Exploration of contracts with randomized arguments
● Checks dangerous contract states
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What’s an invariant?
● “Invariant Testing” = “Property
Testing”
● System properties that should
always be true
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Fuzzing is Easy! But It’s Also Hard!
for value in [0, 255] { ● Even with constraint smart
call function; contracts, astronomical search
if invariant is broken { space
profit ● What if the invariant is only
} broken for a single, unique
} input?
● Multiple accounts/contracts
interacting with each other?
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Echidna
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How do I start?
1. Identify your properties in English
2. Convert your properties to code
3. Run Echidna
4. FIND BUGS
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1: Identify your Invariants
IN ENGLISH WORDS.
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Invariants
● They’re everywhere!
● Token Invariants
● Mathematical invariants
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Token Invariants – Total Supply
User balance never
exceeds total supply
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Token Invariants – Transfer
Users cannot transfer
more than they own
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Mathematical Invariant – Association
1 + 2 = 3
2 + 1 = 3
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Mathematical Invariant – Identity
1 * 2 = 2
0 + x = x
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Mathematical Invariant – Addition / Subtraction
x + 5 - 5 = x
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2: Convert into Code
IT’S EASIER THAN IT SOUNDS.
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Token Invariants – Total Supply
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Mathematical Invariant – Association
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Mathematical Invariant – Identity
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Mathematical Invariant – Addition / Subtraction
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Example - rmm-core
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Liquidity Pools
● Allocate assets into the pool
● Remove assets from the pool
● Swap assets
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Liquidity Pools
● Initial pool balance: x
● Deposit: 5
● Withdraw: 5 x
+5
(5)
———
x
What value do you expect the pool balance to be?
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Allocate/Remove Functions
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What should the test do?
1. Start with initial reserve and liquidity balance
2. Allocate funds into the system
3. Remove funds from the system
4. Balance before and after transactions should be equal
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Invariant Test
Step 1
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Invariant Test
Step 2
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Invariant Test
Step 3
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Invariant Test
Step 4
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Echidna Results
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Events
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Event Results
Amount allocated Amount removed Delta
Token 1 6361150874 6361150873 1
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Event Results
Amount allocated Amount removed Delta
Token 1 6361150874 6361150873 1
Token 2 64,302,260,917,206, 643022609152865326 1,920,041,647,503
574,294,870 47367
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What does it mean?
● Adding and removing funds are not exact inverses
● Users will actually receive 1,920,041,647,503 less
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Why is there a delta?
toUint128()
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Why is toUint128() important?
● Converts FixedPoint 64x64 to uint128
● Truncates numbers too large
● Used in both allocation and removal functions
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With that in mind….
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How can it be fixed?
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It can’t, but….it can be mitigated
● Defining an acceptable delta
● Round in a direction to benefit a pool
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Only the tip of the iceberg…
● Access Controls
● Correct Bookkeeping
● Token balances
● Differential Fuzzing
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What next?
● Talk to us!
● Go through Echidna tutorials on
building-secure-contracts
● Use Echidna on your codebase
● Join Empire Hacking
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