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Smart contracts, known for their immutable nature to ensure trust via automated enforcement, have evolved to require upgradeability due to unforeseen vulnerabilities and the need for feature enhancements post-deployment. This contradiction…

Software Engineering · Computer Science 2024-07-02 Ilham Qasse , Mohammad Hamdaqa , Björn Þór Jónsson

Context: Smart contracts are computerized self-executing contracts that contain clauses, which are enforced once certain conditions are met. Smart contracts are immutable by design and cannot be modified once deployed, which ensures…

Software Engineering · Computer Science 2023-04-14 Ilham Qasse , Mohammad Hamdaqa , Björn Þór Jónsson

A smart contract that is deployed to a blockchain system like Ethereum is, under reasonable circumstances, expected to be immutable and tamper-proof. This is both a feature (promoting integrity and transparency) and a bug (preventing…

Cryptography and Security · Computer Science 2022-06-03 Mehdi Salehi , Jeremy Clark , Mohammad Mannan

The emergence of blockchain technology has revolutionized contract execution through the introduction of smart contracts. Ethereum, the leading blockchain platform, leverages smart contracts to power decentralized applications (DApps),…

Cryptography and Security · Computer Science 2025-10-23 Tahrim Hossain , Sakib Hassan , Faisal Haque Bappy , Muhammad Nur Yanhaona , Tarannum Shaila Zaman , Tariqul Islam

Blockchain technology has revolutionized contractual processes, enhancing efficiency and trust through smart contracts. Ethereum, as a pioneer in this domain, offers a platform for decentralized applications but is challenged by the…

Cryptography and Security · Computer Science 2025-04-16 Tahrim Hossain , Sakib Hassan , Faisal Haque Bappy , Muhammad Nur Yanhaona , Sarker Ahmed Rumee , Moinul Zaber , Tariqul Islam

Smart contracts are central to a myriad of critical blockchain applications, from financial transactions to supply chain management. However, their adoption is hindered by security vulnerabilities that can result in significant financial…

Cryptography and Security · Computer Science 2025-09-30 Dalila Ressi , Alvise Spanò , Lorenzo Benetollo , Carla Piazza , Michele Bugliesi , Sabina Rossi

Smart contracts are self-executing programs on blockchain platforms like Ethereum, which have revolutionized decentralized finance by enabling trustless transactions and the operation of decentralized applications. Despite their potential,…

Software Engineering · Computer Science 2026-03-25 Gerardo Iuliano , Dario Di Nucci

In this work, we provide a comprehensive survey of smart contract upgradability patterns using proxies. A primary characteristic of smart contracts on the Ethereum blockchain is that they are immutable once implemented, no changes can be…

Cryptography and Security · Computer Science 2023-04-10 Sajad Meisami , William Edward Bodell

Software development is a very broad activity that captures the entire life cycle of a software, which includes designing, programming, maintenance and so on. In this study, we focus on the maintenance-related concerns of the…

Software Engineering · Computer Science 2021-08-18 Jiachi Chen , Xin Xia , David Lo , John Grundy , Xiaohu Yang

Ethereum smart contracts are highly powerful, immutable, and able to retain massive amounts of tokens. However, smart contracts keep attracting attackers to benefit from smart contract flaws and Ethereum unexpected behavior. Thus,…

Cryptography and Security · Computer Science 2024-04-10 Wejdene Haouari , Abdelhakim Senhaji Hafid , Marios Fokaefs

Smart contract upgrades are increasingly common due to their flexibility in modifying deployed contracts, such as fixing bugs or adding new functionalities. Meanwhile, upgrades compromise the immutability of contracts, introducing…

Cryptography and Security · Computer Science 2025-08-05 Dingding Wang , Jianting He , Siwei Wu , Yajin Zhou , Lei Wu , Cong Wang

With the rapid advancement of blockchain technology, smart contracts have enabled the implementation of increasingly complex functionalities. However, ensuring the security of smart contracts remains a persistent challenge across the stages…

Cryptography and Security · Computer Science 2025-05-01 Yuchen Ding , Hongli Peng , Xiaoqi Li

Upgradable smart contracts play an important role in the decentralized application ecosystem, to support routine maintenance, security patching, and feature additions. In this paper, we conduct an empirical study on proxy-based upgradable…

Software Engineering · Computer Science 2024-06-11 Ye Liu , Shuo Li , Xiuheng Wu , Yi Li , Zhiyang Chen , David Lo

Smart contracts are immutable, verifiable, and autonomous pieces of code that can be deployed and ran on blockchain networks like Ethereum. Due to the immutability nature of blockchain, no change is possible on a deployed smart contract or…

Software Engineering · Computer Science 2019-12-25 Erfan Andesta , Fathiyeh Faghih , Mahdi Fooladgar

This work addresses the critical challenges of upgrading smart contracts, which are vital for trust in automated transactions but difficult to modify once deployed. To address this issue, we propose SEAM, a novel framework that automates…

Cryptography and Security · Computer Science 2024-12-03 Tahrim Hossain , Faisal Haque Bappy , Tarannum Shaila Zaman , Tariqul Islam

Smart contracts are programs running on a blockchain. They are immutable to change, and hence can not be patched for bugs once deployed. Thus it is critical to ensure they are bug-free and well-designed before deployment. A Contract defect…

Software Engineering · Computer Science 2020-04-20 Jiachi Chen , Xin Xia , David Lo , John Grundy , Daniel Xiapu Luo , Ting Chen

With the rise in using immature smart contract programming languages to build a decentralized application, more vulnerabilities have been introduced to the Blockchain and were the main reasons behind critical financial losses. Moreover, the…

Cryptography and Security · Computer Science 2023-12-04 Oualid Zaazaa , Hanan El Bakkali

Smart contracts are programs stored on a blockchain that run when predetermined conditions are met. However, designing and implementing a smart contract is not trivial since upon deployment on a blockchain, it is no longer possible to…

Software Engineering · Computer Science 2021-12-08 Chaïmaa Benabbou , Önder Gürcan

Turing completeness has made Ethereum smart contracts attractive to blockchain developers and attackers alike. To increase code security, many tools can now spot most known vulnerabilities$-$at the cost of production efficiency. Recent…

Cryptography and Security · Computer Science 2024-10-23 Tommaso Oss , Carlos E. Budde

Smart contracts are the building blocks of the "code is law" paradigm: the smart contract's code indisputably describes how its assets are to be managed - once it is created, its code is typically immutable. Faulty smart contracts present…

Software Engineering · Computer Science 2022-05-17 Pedro Antonino , Juliandson Ferreira , Augusto Sampaio , A. W. Roscoe
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