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Nexus Intelligence Research
Nexus Intelligence Research

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DeFi Smart Contract Vulnerabilities Audit Guide

Here are three of the most common and critical DeFi smart contract vulnerabilities, along with specific methods to detect them during auditing or development.

1. Reentrancy Attacks

Description:

Reentrancy occurs when a smart contract calls an external contract and sends Ether or tokens before updating its internal state. A malicious external contract can then "re-enter" the vulnerable function before the original call completes, potentially draining funds. This is famously known from the DAO hack.

How to Detect It:

  • Static Analysis: Use tools like Slither (by Trail of Bits) or Mythril. These tools analyze the control flow graph and flag functions that perform external calls (call, delegatecall, send, transfer) before state changes (e.g., balance[addr] -= amount).
  • Code Review Pattern: Look for the Checks-Effects-Interactions (CEI) pattern violation.
    • ✅ **

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