CrossFuzz: Cross-contract fuzzing for smart contract vulnerability detection

Abstract

Context:

Smart contracts are computer programs that run on a blockchain. As the functions implemented by smart contracts become increasingly complex, the number of cross-contract interactions within them also rises. Consequently, the combinatorial explosion of transaction sequences poses a significant challenge for smart contract security vulnerability detection. Existing static analysis-based methods for detecting cross-contract vulnerabilities suffer from high false-positive rates and cannot generate test cases, while fuzz testing-based methods exhibit low code coverage and may not accurately detect security vulnerabilities.

Objective:

The goal of this paper is to address the above limitations and efficiently detect cross-contract vulnerabilities. To achieve this goal, we present CrossFuzz, a fuzz testing-based method for detecting cross-contract vulnerabilities.

Method:

First, CrossFuzz generates parameters of constructors by tracing data propagation paths. Then, it collects inter-contract data flow information. Finally, CrossFuzz optimizes mutation strategies for transaction sequences based on inter-contract data flow information to improve the performance of fuzz testing.

Results:

We implemented CrossFuzz, which is an extension of ConFuzzius, and conducted experiments on a real-world dataset containing 396 smart contracts. The results show that CrossFuzz outperforms xFuzz, a fuzz testing-based tool optimized for cross-contract vulnerability detection, with a 10.58% increase in bytecode coverage. Furthermore, CrossFuzz detects 1.82 times more security vulnerabilities than ConFuzzius.

Conclusion:

Our method utilizes data flow information to optimize mutation strategies. It significantly improves the efficiency of fuzz testing for detecting cross-contract vulnerabilities.