Solidity Security

Master smart contract security best practices, vulnerability prevention, and secure Solidity development patterns.

When to Use This Skill

• Writing secure smart contracts
• Auditing existing contracts for vulnerabilities
• Implementing secure DeFi protocols
• Preventing reentrancy, overflow, and access control issues
• Optimizing gas usage while maintaining security
• Preparing contracts for professional audits
• Understanding common attack vectors

Critical Vulnerabilities

1. Reentrancy

Attacker calls back into your contract before state is updated.

Vulnerable Code:

// VULNERABLE TO REENTRANCY
contract VulnerableBank {
    mapping(address => uint256) public balances;

    function withdraw() public {
        uint256 amount = balances[msg.sender];

        // DANGER: External call before state update
        (bool success, ) = msg.sender.call{value: amount}("");
        require(success);

        balances[msg.sender] = 0;  // Too late!
    }
}

Secure Pattern (Checks-Effects-Interactions):

contract SecureBank {
    mapping(address => uint256) public balances;

    function withdraw() public {
        uint256 amount = balances[msg.sender];
        require(amount > 0, "Insufficient balance");

        // EFFECTS: Update state BEFORE external call
        balances[msg.sender] = 0;

        // INTERACTIONS: External call last
        (bool success, ) = msg.sender.call{value: amount}("");
        require(success, "Transfer failed");
    }
}

Alternative: ReentrancyGuard

import "@openzeppelin/contracts/security/ReentrancyGuard.sol";

contract SecureBank is ReentrancyGuard {
    mapping(address => uint256) public balances;

    function withdraw() public nonReentrant {
        uint256 amount = balances[msg.sender];
        require(amount > 0, "Insufficient balance");

        balances[msg.sender] = 0;

        (bool success, ) = msg.sender.call{value: amount}("");
        require(success, "Transfer failed");
    }
}

2. Integer Overflow/Underflow

Vulnerable Code (Solidity < 0.8.0):

// VULNERABLE
contract VulnerableToken {
    mapping(address => uint256) public balances;

    function transfer(address to, uint256 amount) public {
        // No overflow check - can wrap around
        balances[msg.sender] -= amount;  // Can underflow!
        balances[to] += amount;          // Can overflow!
    }
}

Secure Pattern (Solidity >= 0.8.0):

// Solidity 0.8+ has built-in overflow/underflow checks
contract SecureToken {
    mapping(address => uint256) public balances;

    function transfer(address to, uint256 amount) public {
        // Automatically reverts on overflow/underflow
        balances[msg.sender] -= amount;
        balances[to] += amount;
    }
}

For Solidity < 0.8.0, use SafeMath:

import "@openzeppelin/contracts/utils/math/SafeMath.sol";

contract SecureToken {
    using SafeMath for uint256;
    mapping(address => uint256) public balances;

    function transfer(address to, uint256 amount) public {
        balances[msg.sender] = balances[msg.sender].sub(amount);
        balances[to] = balances[to].add(amount);
    }
}

3. Access Control

Vulnerable Code:

// VULNERABLE: Anyone can call critical functions
contract VulnerableContract {
    address public owner;

    function withdraw(uint256 amount) public {
        // No access control!
        payable(msg.sender).transfer(amount);
    }
}

Secure Pattern:

import "@openzeppelin/contracts/access/Ownable.sol";

contract SecureContract is Ownable {
    function withdraw(uint256 amount) public onlyOwner {
        payable(owner()).transfer(amount);
    }
}

// Or implement custom role-based access
contract RoleBasedContract {
    mapping(address => bool) public admins;

    modifier onlyAdmin() {
        require(admins[msg.sender], "Not an admin");
        _;
    }

    function criticalFunction() public onlyAdmin {
        // Protected function
    }
}

4. Front-Running

Vulnerable:

// VULNERABLE TO FRONT-RUNNING
contract VulnerableDEX {
    function swap(uint256 amount, uint256 minOutput) public {
        // Attacker sees this in mempool and front-runs
        uint256 output = calculateOutput(amount);
        require<