A Survey of Vulnerability Detection Techniques by Smart Contract Tools

Abstract

Ethereum Blockchain technology introduced a competitive environment in the financial sector. Consequently, new technologies emerged, such as Smart Contracts (SCs), which preclude code corrections due to their immutable nature. However, the incorrect and faulty uploaded SCs led to uninvited penetrations into SCs’ accounts, resulting in considerable customer losses. This SC’s drawback requires tools to test the SCs and paves the way for research on vulnerability detection techniques. Our survey paper comprehensively reviews 41 SC tools and presents the vulnerability detection techniques (VDTs) of several previously invented tools by dividing them into general and specific classes. Finally, we also perform a classification of detection techniques to standardize the approaches. Thus, our study will help SC developers and security analysts to streamline the security of SCs and reduce the chances of malicious monetary transfers.

Keywords

• Ethereum blockchain
• smart contracts
• survey
• vulnerability detection techniques
• classification of smart contracts
• vulnerability detection tools