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arxiv: 2604.21169 · v2 · submitted 2026-04-23 · 💻 cs.CR

Recognition: unknown

Position Paper: Denial-of-Service against Multi-Round Transaction Simulation

Authors on Pith no claims yet

Pith reviewed 2026-05-09 22:16 UTC · model grok-4.3

classification 💻 cs.CR
keywords denial-of-servicetransaction simulationmulti-round simulationsmart contract stateblock buildingblockchain securityinter-transaction dependency
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The pith

Multi-round transaction simulation is vulnerable to denial-of-service via inter-transaction dependencies in smart-contract states.

A machine-rendered reading of the paper's core claim, the machinery that carries it, and where it could break.

The paper examines how a new type of exploit, inter-transaction dependency that affects smart-contract state, can be used to deny service to multi-round transaction simulators in blockchain block building. Previous work has addressed attacks on single-round builders like ConditionalExhaust or two-round ones like GhostTX, but multi-round systems introduce new surfaces for state-based dependencies across rounds. If this vulnerability holds, it could severely impact transaction delivery and the overall blockchain ecosystem by disrupting block production. Readers should care because transaction simulation is a critical subsystem for ensuring efficient and secure transaction processing in decentralized systems.

Core claim

This position paper identifies inter-transaction dependency manifesting in smart-contract state as a new vector for denial-of-service attacks on multi-round transaction simulation, which is an important subsystem of block building.

What carries the argument

Inter-transaction dependency in smart-contract state, which enables attackers to create chains of transactions that influence each other's simulation outcomes across multiple rounds to exhaust simulator resources.

Load-bearing premise

That inter-transaction dependencies in smart-contract state can be practically triggered and scaled to cause denial-of-service in real multi-round simulators without being mitigated by existing mechanisms.

What would settle it

An experiment showing that a multi-round simulator processes any sequence of dependent transactions without resource exhaustion or failure, or that current mitigations already prevent the described attack.

read the original abstract

Transaction simulation is an important subsystem of block building, denial of whose service could lead to severe damage to the blockchain ecosystem and transaction delivery. Denial of block building has been studied, where the existing attack designs either target single-round builders, such as ConditionalExhaust (USENIX Security '24), or target two-round builders, by exploiting cross-round inconsistency, such as GhostTX (USENIX Security '24) and denial of sequencers (CCS '25). This work examines the denial-of-service security of multi-round transaction simulation under a new exploit: inter-transaction dependency that manifests in smart-contract state.

Editorial analysis

A structured set of objections, weighed in public.

Desk editor's note, referee report, simulated authors' rebuttal, and a circularity audit. Tearing a paper down is the easy half of reading it; the pith above is the substance, this is the friction.

Referee Report

1 major / 1 minor

Summary. This position paper examines the denial-of-service security of multi-round transaction simulation, a key subsystem in blockchain block building. It contrasts prior attacks on single-round builders (e.g., ConditionalExhaust) and two-round builders (e.g., GhostTX and denial of sequencers) with a proposed new exploit based on inter-transaction dependencies that manifest in smart-contract state.

Significance. If the described exploit can be shown to be practical and scalable, the work would usefully extend the literature on block-builder DoS by identifying a state-dependent vector that may evade mitigations designed for cross-round inconsistency. As a position paper it could prompt timely discussion and defensive research in the blockchain security community, though its impact depends on whether the high-level framing is later substantiated with concrete constructions.

major comments (1)
  1. Abstract: the manuscript's central claim is that inter-transaction dependencies in smart-contract state constitute a new, viable DoS vector for multi-round simulators. However, no formal model, attack construction, triggering mechanism, or comparison to existing cross-round attacks is supplied, leaving the load-bearing assumption that such dependencies can be practically triggered and scaled unexamined.
minor comments (1)
  1. The citations to USENIX Security '24 and CCS '25 should include full bibliographic details so readers can locate the referenced prior work.

Simulated Author's Rebuttal

1 responses · 0 unresolved

We thank the referee for the thoughtful review and constructive feedback on our position paper. We address the major comment below.

read point-by-point responses
  1. Referee: Abstract: the manuscript's central claim is that inter-transaction dependencies in smart-contract state constitute a new, viable DoS vector for multi-round simulators. However, no formal model, attack construction, triggering mechanism, or comparison to existing cross-round attacks is supplied, leaving the load-bearing assumption that such dependencies can be practically triggered and scaled unexamined.

    Authors: As this is a position paper, our goal is to highlight a potential new DoS vector arising from stateful inter-transaction dependencies in multi-round simulation, which we argue is distinct from the cross-round inconsistency attacks in GhostTX or the single-round focus of ConditionalExhaust. We agree that the manuscript does not supply a formal model, concrete construction, or detailed triggering mechanism, as the intent is to frame the issue for community discussion rather than deliver a fully implemented exploit. The assumption draws from the inherent design of smart contracts, where transactions routinely modify shared state (such as storage slots or contract variables) that can affect the simulation outcomes of dependent transactions in subsequent rounds. We will make a partial revision by updating the abstract to emphasize the position-paper nature and adding a concise section that outlines a high-level conceptual triggering mechanism along with an explicit comparison to prior attacks, while preserving the paper's scope. revision: partial

Circularity Check

0 steps flagged

No significant circularity

full rationale

This position paper frames a new exploit (inter-transaction dependency in smart-contract state) for DoS against multi-round transaction simulation. The provided text consists solely of high-level framing and references to prior unrelated attacks (ConditionalExhaust, GhostTX, denial of sequencers); it contains no equations, derivations, fitted parameters, self-citations used as load-bearing premises, or any reduction of a claimed result to its own inputs by construction. The central claim is therefore self-contained as a position statement with no derivation chain present to evaluate.

Axiom & Free-Parameter Ledger

0 free parameters · 0 axioms · 0 invented entities

No technical content, equations, or empirical claims are available in the abstract, so the ledger is empty.

pith-pipeline@v0.9.0 · 5402 in / 991 out tokens · 20945 ms · 2026-05-09T22:16:10.139251+00:00 · methodology

discussion (0)

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Reference graph

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