Solidity Security

Smart contract security patterns, vulnerability prevention, and secure development practices for Solidity.

When to Use

• Writing or reviewing smart contracts
• Auditing contracts for vulnerabilities
• Implementing DeFi protocols
• Preventing reentrancy, overflow, and access control issues
• Optimizing gas while maintaining security
• Preparing contracts for professional audits

Installation

OpenClaw / Moltbot / Clawbot

npx clawhub@latest install solidity-security

Critical Vulnerabilities

1. Reentrancy

Attacker calls back into your contract before state is updated.

ReentrancyGuard

nonReentrant

Vulnerable:

function withdraw() public {
    uint256 amount = balances[msg.sender];
    (bool success, ) = msg.sender.call{value: amount}("");
    require(success);
    balances[msg.sender] = 0;  // Too late!
}

Secure (Checks-Effects-Interactions + Guard):

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;  // EFFECT before INTERACTION

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

2. Integer Overflow/Underflow

Pre-0.8.0 vulnerability — arithmetic silently wraps around.

// 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

from OpenZeppelin. Be especially cautious with multiplication before comparison — the BEC Token exploit used

cnt * _value

overflow to mint infinite tokens.

3. Access Control

Ownable

Ownable2Step

AccessControl

TimelockController

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

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

Critical rules:

• Every

  external

  /

  public

  state-changing function needs access control
• Never use

  tx.origin

  for authentication — use

  msg.sender

• Use two-step ownership transfer (

  Ownable2Step

  ) to prevent accidental transfers
• No single key should control enough power to drain the protocol

4. Front-Running

Attackers observe pending transactions in the mempool and submit their own first.

Mitigation — Commit-Reveal:

contract SecureDEX {
    mapping(bytes32 => bool) public usedCommitments;

    function commitTrade(bytes32 commitment) public {
        usedCommitments[commitment] = true;
    }

    function revealTrade(
        uint256 amount, uint256 minOutput, bytes32 secret
    ) public {
        bytes32 commitment = keccak256(
            abi.encodePacked(msg.sender, amount, minOutput, secret)
        );
        require(usedCommitments[commitment], "Invalid commitment");
        // Perform swap
    }
}

5. Oracle Manipulation

updatedAt

answeredInRound

(uint80 roundId, int256 price, , uint256 updatedAt, uint80 answeredInRound) =
    priceFeed.latestRoundData();
require(price > 0, "Invalid price");
require(updatedAt > 0, "Round not complete");
require(answeredInRound >= roundId, "Stale round");
require(block.timestamp - updatedAt <= MAX_STALENESS, "Price too old");

6. Signature Replay

Signatures without nonce, chain ID, or contract binding can be replayed.

Use EIP-712 typed data:

import "@openzeppelin/contracts/utils/cryptography/EIP712.sol";
import "@openzeppelin/contracts/utils/cryptography/ECDSA.sol";

contract SecureRelay is EIP712 {
    mapping(address => uint256) public nonces;

    bytes32 private constant ACTION_TYPEHASH = keccak256(
        "ExecuteAction(address to,uint256 amount,uint256 nonce,uint256 deadline)"
    );

    constructor() EIP712("SecureRelay", "1") {}

    function executeAction(
        address to, uint256 amount, uint256 deadline,
        bytes calldata signature
    ) external {
        require(block.timestamp <= deadline, "Signature expired");
        uint256 currentNonce = nonces[msg.sender]++;
        bytes32 structHash = keccak256(
            abi.encode(ACTION_TYPEHASH, to, amount, currentNonce, deadline)
        );
        bytes32 hash = _hashTypedDataV4(structHash);
        require(ECDSA.recover(hash, signature) == msg.sender, "Invalid sig");
        payable(to).transfer(amount);
    }
}

Security Patterns

Checks-Effects-Interactions (CEI)

The foundational pattern — validate, update state, then interact externally.

function withdraw(uint256 amount) public {
    require(amount <= balances[msg.sender], "Insufficient");  // CHECK
    balances[msg.sender] -= amount;                           // EFFECT
    (bool success, ) = msg.sender.call{value: amount}("");    // INTERACTION
    require(success, "Transfer failed");
}

Pull Over Push

Let users withdraw funds instead of pushing payments to them. Prevents one failed transfer from blocking all others.

contract SecurePayment {
    mapping(address => uint256) public pendingWithdrawals;

    function recordPayment(address recipient, uint256 amount) internal {
        pendingWithdrawals[recipient] += amount;
    }

    function withdraw() public {
        uint256 amount = pendingWithdrawals[msg.sender];
        require(amount > 0, "Nothing to withdraw");
        pendingWithdrawals[msg.sender] = 0;
        payable(msg.sender).transfer(amount);
    }
}

Emergency Stop (Circuit Breaker)

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

contract EmergencyStop is Pausable, Ownable {
    function criticalFunction() public whenNotPaused { /* ... */ }
    function emergencyStop() public onlyOwner { _pause(); }
    function resume() public onlyOwner { _unpause(); }
}

Gas Optimization

uint256

calldata

memory

Storage packing example:

// 3 variables in 1 slot (gas efficient)
contract PackedStorage {
    uint128 public a;  // Slot 0
    uint64 public b;   // Slot 0
    uint64 public c;   // Slot 0
    uint256 public d;  // Slot 1
}

Proxy & Upgrade Safety

_disableInitializers()

uint256[50] __gap

Audit Preparation Checklist

ReentrancyGuard

tx.origin

delegatecall

SafeERC20

unchecked

Security Analysis Tools

References

• Vulnerability Patterns — 17 vulnerability categories with vulnerable/secure code pairs
• Audit Checklist — Pre-deployment checklist organized by category with CRITICAL flagging
• Exploit Examples — 8 real-world exploit breakdowns with attack flow analysis

NEVER Do

tx.origin

delegatecall

^0.8.0

selfdestruct

unchecked