In the webs of ethereum: analyzing smart contracts vulnerabilities
Abstract Ensuring the security of smart contracts is essential for maintaining the reliability and trustworthiness of decentralized applications, which are deployed across various domains, including industrial applications. In pursuit of this goal, it is imperative to analyze the common errors developers make when crafting smart contracts on the infrastructure that gave birth to them, i.e., the Ethereum blockchain. In this paper, we present a comprehensive analysis of the vulnerabilities in Ethereum smart contracts. Our methodology involves downloading the entire Ethereum blockchain and identifying smart contracts, which we then scan for vulnerabilities using various tools. We have discovered numerous vulnerabilities across many deployed smart contracts, highlighting the need for improved development practices. This analysis provides critical insights into the prevalence of security issues and underscores the urgency of raising development standards. By promoting the adoption of secure-by-design principles, our research seeks to enhance security standards within the Ethereum smart contract ecosystem.
Authors
- Vaios Bolgouras (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4934-7625)
- Christos Xenakis (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6718-122X)
- Apostolis Zarras (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8480-6989)
- Aristeidis Farao (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6954-0791)
- Vasilis Magkoutis
Institutions
- University of Piraeus (GR)
- Foundation for Research and Technology Hellas (GR)
Publication Details
- Journal
- International Journal of Information Security
- Published
- 2026-02-05
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1007/s10207-026-01208-2
- Primary Topic
- Blockchain Technology Applications and Security
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- European Commission
- HORIZON EUROPE Framework Programme