# Evolution of Automated Weakness Detection in Ethereum Bytecode: a Comprehensive Study

**Authors:** Monika di Angelo, Thomas Durieux, João F. Ferreira, Gernot Salzer  
**arXiv:** [2303.10517](https://arxiv.org/abs/2303.10517)  
**Date:** 2023-03-18  
**Summary page:** https://www.summarizepaper.com/en/paper/2303.10517v1/

## Key points

- Blockchain technology has led to the creation of programs that manage valuable assets such as cryptocurrencies and tokens.
- These programs implement protocols for decentralized finance (DeFi), logistics, and logging where security is paramount.
- Developers and analysts rely on various tools to identify potential issues in these programs.
- It can be challenging for these tools and developers to keep up with the rapid evolution of blockchain technology.
- The study titled "Evolution of Automated Weakness Detection in Ethereum Bytecode: a Comprehensive Study" focuses on Ethereum - the crypto ecosystem with the most developers and contracts by far - to investigate changes in tool behavior in terms of detected weaknesses, quality, and behavior, and agreements between tools.
- The authors are the first to fully cover the entire body of deployed bytecode on the Ethereum mainchain by considering bytecodes as equivalent if they share the same skeleton obtained by omitting functionally irrelevant parts.
- The study reduces 48 million contracts deployed on Ethereum to 248,328 contracts with distinct skeletons through bulk execution using SmartBugs alongside six other tools that accept bytecode.
- The execution of all 13 included tools took a total of 31 years.
- While these tools reported a total of 1,307,486 potential weaknesses over time there was a decreasing number of reported vulnerabilities with some tools degrading more than others.
- This comprehensive study provides insights into how automated weakness detection in Ethereum bytecode has evolved over time while highlighting areas that require further improvement for better security assurance in blockchain technology applications.

## Summary

The emergence of blockchain technology has led to the creation of numerous programs that manage valuable assets such as cryptocurrencies and tokens. These programs also implement protocols for decentralized finance (DeFi), logistics, and logging, where security is paramount. To ensure the safety and reliability of these programs, developers and analysts rely on various tools to identify potential issues. However, due to the rapid evolution of blockchain technology, it can be challenging for these tools and developers to keep up with the changes. In this study titled "Evolution of Automated Weakness Detection in Ethereum Bytecode: a Comprehensive Study," authors Monika di Angelo, Thomas Durieux, João F. Ferreira, and Gernot Salzer focus on Ethereum - the crypto ecosystem with the most developers and contracts by far - to investigate changes in tool behavior in terms of detected weaknesses, quality and behavior, and agreements between tools. The authors are the first to fully cover the entire body of deployed bytecode on the Ethereum mainchain by considering bytecodes as equivalent if they share the same skeleton obtained by omitting functionally irrelevant parts. The study reduces 48 million contracts deployed on Ethereum to 248,328 contracts with distinct skeletons through bulk execution using SmartBugs - an open-source framework that facilitates Solidity smart contract analysis enhanced to accept bytecode as input - alongside six other tools that accept bytecode. The execution of all 13 included tools took a total of 31 years. The results show that while these tools reported a total of 1,307,486 potential weaknesses over time there was a decreasing number of reported vulnerabilities with some tools degrading more than others. This comprehensive study provides insights into how automated weakness detection in Ethereum bytecode has evolved over time while highlighting areas that require further improvement for better security assurance in blockchain technology applications.