Liquid Collective and Obol emphasize urgent improvements needed for Ethereum's security ahead of the 2025 Pecta upgrade.
Recently, a comprehensive report by the Liquid Collective and Obol has shed light on several critical risks within Ethereum's infrastructure. This report emphasizes the urgent need for improvements in various aspects of Ethereum's back-end to ensure its security and resilience, especially with the upcoming Pecta upgrade in 2025.
The report highlights several key risks that could potentially destabilize the Ethereum network. One of the primary concerns is the danger of correlated slashing penalties. Slashing is a mechanism designed to penalize validators who act against the network's interests. However, if multiple validators are penalized simultaneously due to correlated failures, it could lead to significant instability.
Another major concern is the dominance of the Geth client. Geth, short for Go Ethereum, is one of the most popular clients used to run Ethereum nodes. The report warns that this dominance could pose a risk to the network's stability. If a vulnerability were to be discovered in Geth, it could affect a large portion of the network, leading to potential disruptions.
The report also discusses the potential impact of regional outages and policies on Ethereum's infrastructure. Regional outages, whether due to natural disasters or technical failures, could significantly affect the network's performance. Additionally, regional policies and regulations could impose constraints on the network, further complicating its operation.
Distributed Validator Technology (DVT) is a promising solution for enhancing the security of Ethereum's network. However, the report points out that its adoption has been limited so far. DVT can help distribute the responsibilities of a single validator across multiple nodes, reducing the risk of correlated failures and improving overall network security.
Solidity, the programming language used for writing smart contracts on Ethereum, is also under scrutiny. The report critiques Solidity for its security vulnerabilities, which could be exploited by malicious actors. Ensuring the security of smart contracts is crucial for maintaining trust in the Ethereum network.
