Following some recent security audits, The Optimism Foundation has announced a major change to its network’s fraud proof system. That is, permissioned fraud proofs will replace permissionless ones. This action is being taken just two months after permissionless fraud proofs—a technique intended to improve the decentralization of the Ethereum-based layer-2 network—were introduced.
Permissionless fraud proofs, which were first made available on June 10, enabled users to independently contest transactions that might have been fraudulent, in line with Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin’s vision for Stage 1 decentralization. By allowing every user to protest erroneous transactions, as opposed to only a few, this approach seeks to democratize transaction verification. However, several weaknesses in the system were discovered by recent community-driven audits. This prompted Optimism to temporarily return to a permissioned state.
Security Concerns Prompt Optimism Foundation to Recalibrate Network
While no user assets were compromised, two high-severity problems were found, according to a proposal from OP Labs. The permissioned fallback mechanism has to be reactivated in order to prevent potential instability, even though the vulnerabilities were not exploited. Protocol developer Mofi Taiwo said:
“We’ve activated the permissioned fallback mechanism while we address these vulnerabilities to ensure continued stability and security.”
After a pre-audit, the fallback mechanism was found to be adequate for reducing risks while vulnerabilities were fixed. Interestingly, a few relevant contracts were left out of the initial audit scope. Looking ahead, on September 10 at 16:00:01 UTC, Optimism intends to deploy “Granite,” a major network update. This upgrade will include other important modifications, including an L2 hard fork.
OP Labs determined that the changes are low-risk based on a preliminary security evaluation. That is, despite the hard fork itself not having undergone an external audit. This recalibration further demonstrates Optimism’s dedication to network stability and security as it develops its layer-2 solutions.
