Risk of asynchronous protocol update: attacks to Monero protocols

Dimaz Ankaa Wijaya; Joseph K. Liu; Ron Steinfeld; Dongxi Liu

doi:10.1007/978-3-030-21548-4_17

Risk of asynchronous protocol update: attacks to Monero protocols

Dimaz Ankaa Wijaya, Joseph K. Liu, Ron Steinfeld, Dongxi Liu

Department of Software Systems & Cybersecurity

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference Paper › Research › peer-review

4 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

In a cryptocurrency system, the protocol incorporated in the node application runs without human intervention. Cryptographic techniques are implemented to determine the ownership of the coins; they enable the owners to transfer the ownership of the coins to other users. Consensus protocols are employed to determine the source of the truth of the information contained in the public ledger called blockchain. When the protocol needs to be updated, all nodes need to replace the application with the newest release. We explore an event where an asynchronous protocol update opens a vulnerability in Monero nodes which have not yet updated to the newest software version. We show that a Denial of Service attack can be launched against the nodes running the outdated protocol, where the attack significantly reduces the system’ performance. We also show that an attacker, given a sufficient access to cryptocurrency services, is able to utilise the Denial of Service attack to launch a traceability attack.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	Information Security and Privacy
Subtitle of host publication	24th Australasian Conference, ACISP 2019 Christchurch, New Zealand, July 3–5, 2019 Proceedings
Editors	Julian Jang-Jaccard, Fuchun Guo
Place of Publication	Cham Switzerland
Publisher	Springer
Pages	307-321
Number of pages	15
ISBN (Electronic)	9783030215484
ISBN (Print)	9783030215477
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-21548-4_17
Publication status	Published - 2019
Event	Australasian Conference on Information Security and Privacy 2019 - Christchurch, New Zealand Duration: 3 Jul 2019 → 5 Jul 2019 Conference number: 24th https://acisp19.canterbury.ac.nz/ https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-030-21548-4 (Proceedings)

Publication series

Name	Lecture Notes in Computer Science
Publisher	Springer
Volume	11547
ISSN (Print)	0302-9743
ISSN (Electronic)	1611-3349

Conference

Conference	Australasian Conference on Information Security and Privacy 2019
Abbreviated title	ACISP 2019
Country/Territory	New Zealand
City	Christchurch
Period	3/07/19 → 5/07/19
Internet address	https://acisp19.canterbury.ac.nz/ https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-030-21548-4 (Proceedings)

Keywords

Denial of Service
Monero
Traceability
Transaction pool

Access to Document

10.1007/978-3-030-21548-4_17

Cite this

Wijaya, D. A., Liu, J. K., Steinfeld, R., & Liu, D. (2019). Risk of asynchronous protocol update: attacks to Monero protocols. In J. Jang-Jaccard, & F. Guo (Eds.), Information Security and Privacy: 24th Australasian Conference, ACISP 2019 Christchurch, New Zealand, July 3–5, 2019 Proceedings (pp. 307-321). (Lecture Notes in Computer Science ; Vol. 11547 ). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-21548-4_17

Wijaya, Dimaz Ankaa ; Liu, Joseph K. ; Steinfeld, Ron et al. / Risk of asynchronous protocol update : attacks to Monero protocols. Information Security and Privacy: 24th Australasian Conference, ACISP 2019 Christchurch, New Zealand, July 3–5, 2019 Proceedings. editor / Julian Jang-Jaccard ; Fuchun Guo. Cham Switzerland : Springer, 2019. pp. 307-321 (Lecture Notes in Computer Science ).

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abstract = "In a cryptocurrency system, the protocol incorporated in the node application runs without human intervention. Cryptographic techniques are implemented to determine the ownership of the coins; they enable the owners to transfer the ownership of the coins to other users. Consensus protocols are employed to determine the source of the truth of the information contained in the public ledger called blockchain. When the protocol needs to be updated, all nodes need to replace the application with the newest release. We explore an event where an asynchronous protocol update opens a vulnerability in Monero nodes which have not yet updated to the newest software version. We show that a Denial of Service attack can be launched against the nodes running the outdated protocol, where the attack significantly reduces the system{\textquoteright} performance. We also show that an attacker, given a sufficient access to cryptocurrency services, is able to utilise the Denial of Service attack to launch a traceability attack.",

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Wijaya, DA, Liu, JK , Steinfeld, R & Liu, D 2019, Risk of asynchronous protocol update: attacks to Monero protocols. in J Jang-Jaccard & F Guo (eds), Information Security and Privacy: 24th Australasian Conference, ACISP 2019 Christchurch, New Zealand, July 3–5, 2019 Proceedings. Lecture Notes in Computer Science , vol. 11547 , Springer, Cham Switzerland, pp. 307-321, Australasian Conference on Information Security and Privacy 2019, Christchurch, New Zealand, 3/07/19. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-21548-4_17

Risk of asynchronous protocol update: attacks to Monero protocols. / Wijaya, Dimaz Ankaa; Liu, Joseph K.; Steinfeld, Ron et al.
Information Security and Privacy: 24th Australasian Conference, ACISP 2019 Christchurch, New Zealand, July 3–5, 2019 Proceedings. ed. / Julian Jang-Jaccard; Fuchun Guo. Cham Switzerland: Springer, 2019. p. 307-321 (Lecture Notes in Computer Science ; Vol. 11547 ).

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference Paper › Research › peer-review

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N2 - In a cryptocurrency system, the protocol incorporated in the node application runs without human intervention. Cryptographic techniques are implemented to determine the ownership of the coins; they enable the owners to transfer the ownership of the coins to other users. Consensus protocols are employed to determine the source of the truth of the information contained in the public ledger called blockchain. When the protocol needs to be updated, all nodes need to replace the application with the newest release. We explore an event where an asynchronous protocol update opens a vulnerability in Monero nodes which have not yet updated to the newest software version. We show that a Denial of Service attack can be launched against the nodes running the outdated protocol, where the attack significantly reduces the system’ performance. We also show that an attacker, given a sufficient access to cryptocurrency services, is able to utilise the Denial of Service attack to launch a traceability attack.

AB - In a cryptocurrency system, the protocol incorporated in the node application runs without human intervention. Cryptographic techniques are implemented to determine the ownership of the coins; they enable the owners to transfer the ownership of the coins to other users. Consensus protocols are employed to determine the source of the truth of the information contained in the public ledger called blockchain. When the protocol needs to be updated, all nodes need to replace the application with the newest release. We explore an event where an asynchronous protocol update opens a vulnerability in Monero nodes which have not yet updated to the newest software version. We show that a Denial of Service attack can be launched against the nodes running the outdated protocol, where the attack significantly reduces the system’ performance. We also show that an attacker, given a sufficient access to cryptocurrency services, is able to utilise the Denial of Service attack to launch a traceability attack.

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Wijaya DA, Liu JK , Steinfeld R, Liu D. Risk of asynchronous protocol update: attacks to Monero protocols. In Jang-Jaccard J, Guo F, editors, Information Security and Privacy: 24th Australasian Conference, ACISP 2019 Christchurch, New Zealand, July 3–5, 2019 Proceedings. Cham Switzerland: Springer. 2019. p. 307-321. (Lecture Notes in Computer Science ). doi: 10.1007/978-3-030-21548-4_17

Risk of asynchronous protocol update: attacks to Monero protocols

Abstract

Publication series

Conference

Keywords

Access to Document

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