CRII: SaTC: Towards a Secure and Efficient Ethereum P2P Network with Client Diversity

Etherum是一个用于分散支付(类似于比特币)以及金融(“智能”)合同和应用程序的软件平台。自成立以来，Etherum已越来越多地被各种不同的应用程序采用，如金融、医疗和游戏。Etherum使用对等(P2P)网络实施区块链技术，其中每个参与节点可以运行不同的客户端和传播模型，以增强其安全性和效率。这项工作解决了以下以太P2P网络挑战：如何了解是否所有客户端都具有兼容的通信协议并保持一致的行为；以及如何防止邻居的私有信息泄露到恶意节点。为了应对这些挑战，这项工作将开发系统地检测以太客户端中不兼容的通信协议和不一致的行为的方法，并设计一种新的方法来保护节点隐私和提高效率。在这项研究的基础上，将开发两门新课程，一门涵盖密码学基础及其在区块链中的应用的课程，一门关于区块链安全基础的研究生选修课。这一努力包括三项研究任务。任务1是开发一个自动化测试框架，以发现在Etherum客户端中实施的可能导致通信故障的不兼容通信协议。任务2是开发一个不同的模糊框架，以检测Etherum客户端中可能导致拒绝服务攻击的不一致传播行为。任务3是设计一个动态传播模型，该模型可以根据网络条件和邻居状态选择最佳传播方法，以缓解邻居隐私泄露问题，提高传播效率。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Ethereum is a software platform used for decentralized payments (similar to bitcoin) and also for financial ("smart") contracts and applications. Since its inception, Ethereum has been increasingly adopted by various diverse applications such as finance, health, and gaming. Ethereum implements blockchain technology with a peer-to-peer (P2P) network where each participating node may run different clients and propagation models to enhance its security and efficiency. This effort addresses the following Ethereum P2P network challenges: how to understand whether all clients have compatible communication protocols and behave consistently; and how to prevent the leakage of neighbors' private information to a malicious node. To address these challenges, this effort will develop methods to systematically detect incompatible communication protocols and inconsistent behaviors in Ethereum clients, and design a new approach to preserve node privacy and improve efficiency. Two new courses will be developed based on this research, a course covering the foundations of cryptography and its applications in blockchains, and an elective graduate course on blockchain security foundations.This effort includes three research tasks. Task 1 is to develop an automated testing framework to discover incompatible communication protocols implemented in Ethereum clients that would cause communication failures. Task 2 is to develop a differential fuzzing framework to detect inconsistent propagation behaviors in Ethereum clients that could lead to Denial-of-Service attacks. Task 3 is to design a dynamic propagation model that can select the best propagation method based on the network conditions and neighbor status to mitigate the neighbor privacy leakage problem and improve propagation efficiency.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.