Navigating the smart contract threat landscape: a systematic review

Abstract

Smart contracts have emerged as a transformative technology within the blockchain ecosystem, facilitating the automated and trustless execution of agreements. Their adoption spans diverse sectors such as education, agriculture, healthcare, government, real estate, transportation, supply chain, and global initiatives like Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs). However, the security of smart contracts has become a significant concern, as vulnerabilities in their design and implementation can lead to severe consequences such as financial losses and system failures. This systematic review consolidates findings from 78 selected research articles, identifying key vulnerabilities affecting smart contracts and categorizing them into a taxonomy encompassing code-level, environment-dependent, and user-related vulnerabilities. It also examines the threats that exploit these vulnerabilities and the most effective detection techniques. The domain-based classification presented in this review aims to assist researchers, software engineers, and developers in identifying and mitigating significant security flaws related to the design, implementation, and deployment of smart contracts. A comprehensive understanding of these issues is essential for enhancing the security and reliability of the blockchain ecosystem, ultimately fostering the development of more secure and robust decentralized applications for end users.