Extorsionware: Exploiting Smart Contract Vulnerabilities for Fun and Profit

TL;DR

This paper introduces extorsionware, a novel attack exploiting vulnerabilities in smart contracts to extort victims by controlling their assets and demanding payment for re-establishing control.

Contribution

It presents a new attack method that leverages smart contract vulnerabilities for extortion, highlighting a novel security threat in blockchain systems.

Findings

Demonstrates the feasibility of extorsionware attacks on vulnerable smart contracts

Shows how attackers can control assets and demand payments from victims

Highlights the need for improved smart contract security measures

Abstract

Smart Contracts (SCs) publicly deployed on blockchain have been shown to include multiple vulnerabilities, which can be maliciously exploited by users. In this paper, we present extorsionware, a novel attack exploiting the public nature of vulnerable SCs to gain control over the victim's SC assets. Thanks to the control gained over the SC, the attacker obliges the victim to pay a price to re-gain exclusive control of the SC.