3 posts tagged with "attack-analysis"

This week, the Leios team conducted comprehensive attack parameter analysis, released updated simulation tools, and performed detailed analysis of Cardano mainnet validation performance. The team successfully characterized the effectiveness of late-release attacks across different parameter ranges and established baseline performance metrics for ledger operations critical to proposed Leios implementation.

Attack analysis and parameter optimization​

Parameter-sweep experiment for late-EB attacks​

The team conducted a comprehensive parameter-sweep experiment to determine optimal adversarial strategies for late Endorser Block (EB) attacks. The experiment systematically varied EB delay timing from six to eight seconds with adversaries controlling 33% of stake, examining both diffusion parameter configurations (L_diff on/off) under the txs-received propagation scheme.

Critical findings from the parameter sweep analysis demonstrate that efficiency degradation begins when EBs and transactions are delayed 6.5 seconds, with minimal additional impact beyond 7-second delays. The analysis revealed that L_diff = 0s configurations perform better than L_diff = 7s under adversarial conditions. Importantly, none of the tested scenarios using txs-received propagation resulted in transaction loss or protocol breakdown, indicating robust behavior under these attack conditions.

Simulation infrastructure improvements​

Rust simulation releases​

The team released versions 1.1.0 and 1.2.0 of the Rust simulation infrastructure, incorporating updated transaction validation CPU models that improve accuracy of performance predictions. These releases enhance the fidelity of proposed Leios simulations and provide more reliable computational cost estimates for protocol analysis.

Regression analysis framework​

The team implemented a comprehensive regression analysis framework comparing behavior across all tagged versions of the Rust simulator sim-cli. This systematic approach enables rapid detection of behavioral changes in the simulator across development iterations, ensuring consistency and reliability in experimental results.

Mainnet performance analysis​

Cardano mainnet validation timing analysis​

The team extended the analysis of ledger operations with comprehensive linear statistical models predicting Apply and Reapply phases of ledger updates. These regressions provide crucial input for proposed Leios performance studies, particularly scenarios involving higher Plutus execution limits.

Empty block diffusion analysis​

The team completed analysis of empty block diffusion on Cardano mainnet using data from pooltool.io. This analysis establishes empirical estimates for the Δ_hdr parameter required by the proposed Leios protocol. The findings demonstrate that 94.0% of empty Praos blocks arrive at nodes within one second of their slot start time, providing critical timing constraints for protocol parameter selection.

Next steps​

• Continue refinement of attack resistance analysis based on parameter sweep findings
• Integrate updated CPU models into comprehensive protocol performance evaluations
• Extend mainnet analysis to inform proposed Leios parameter optimization
• Prepare comprehensive attack analysis documentation for CIP inclusion.

This week, the Leios team advanced the Cardano Improvement Proposal (CIP) documentation, conducted comprehensive attack analysis experiments, and continued cross-validation between simulation implementations. The team successfully demonstrated resilience characteristics of proposed Leios under adversarial conditions and refined protocol specification components for the formal CIP submission.

CIP development progress​

The team made substantial progress on the Ouroboros Leios CIP proposal. The draft specification section is now complete except for the network and incentives components. The motivation and abstract sections have been refined for clarity, enhancing the document's accessibility and technical precision. The first of four main rationale subsections has been fully drafted, providing evidence-based arguments for the necessity and viability of the proposed Leios protocol enhancement.

Attack resistance analysis​

Initial adversarial simulation experiments​

The team conducted the first simulation experiment for attacks, examining late Endorser Block (EB) and transaction diffusion scenarios where adversaries control timing of critical protocol messages. The experiment varied the diffusion parameter L_diff and EB propagation schemes to assess protocol robustness under different adversarial strategies.

Key findings from the initial attack analysis include successful demonstration that late-release attacks can impact proposed Leios throughput under specific conditions. The analysis revealed that transaction loss occurred in some scenarios due to memory pool rule formulations in the simulator, leading to important insights for protocol hardening and implementation requirements.

Cross-simulation validation​

Haskell versus Rust comparison​

The team completed another comprehensive comparison between Haskell and Rust simulation implementations at analysis/sims/202532b. Results indicate successful resolution of previous discrepancies in vote diffusion behavior between the two simulation environments. This validation ensures both implementations produce consistent results for protocol analysis and strengthens confidence in the simulation-based evidence supporting the CIP.

CIP figure preparation​

The experiment for draft figures for CIP progressed with updated simulation runs designed to generate publication-quality performance charts and protocol behavior visualizations for inclusion in the formal CIP documentation.

Next steps​

• Complete the remaining network and incentives sections of the CIP specification
• Conduct follow-up analysis on attack experiment findings to refine protocol parameters
• Continue refinement of memory pool rules based on adversarial scenario insights
• Finalize CIP figures and supporting analysis for submission preparation.

This week, the Leios team achieved a significant milestone by successfully demonstrating protocol viability at 1,000 TPS. They also completed a comprehensive attack surface analysis and made substantial improvements to simulation and verification tools.

High-throughput demonstration​

• Successfully completed a 1,000 TPS experiment using basic 300-byte non-Plutus transactions
• Demonstrated the viability of Leios protocol operation at extremely high throughput levels
• Validated protocol performance under stress conditions significantly beyond current Cardano capacity
• Documented detailed findings in the 1,000 TPS analysis.

Security analysis​

• Completed a comprehensive attack surface analysis for the second technical report
• Defined terminology and taxonomy for potential Leios attack vectors
• Categorized major attack types and their potential impacts on protocol security
• Enhanced understanding of protocol vulnerabilities and mitigation strategies.

Rust simulation enhancements​

• Finished implementing support for input block (IB) equivocations in the simulation
• Added capability to model and analyze protocol behavior under adversarial conditions
• Enhanced simulation fidelity for security-related protocol testing.

Trace verifier performance optimization​

• Achieved 3x performance improvement by configuring minimum heap size to 1GB
• Reduced garbage collection overhead from 75% to 2% of execution time
• Enhanced profiling capabilities with detailed performance analysis tools
• Improved verification efficiency for large-scale simulation trace analysis.

Protocol convergence for CIP​

• Intensified efforts to converge on a specific Leios variant for the Cardano Improvement Proposal (CIP)
• Applied systematic evaluation methodology to rank protocol candidates from multiple angles
• Evaluated efficiency metrics, including temporal efficiency versus storage optimization trade-offs
• Assessed attack surface and security vectors across different protocol variants
• Analyzed utility factors, including quality of service, developer friendliness, user experience, and downstream ecosystem impacts
• Focused on eliminating candidates through evidence-based assessment of valuable protocol characteristics.