Netinfo Security ›› 2021, Vol. 21 ›› Issue (8): 35-42.doi: 10.3969/j.issn.1671-1122.2021.08.005

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A Formal Analysis Method of PoS Consensus Protocol Based on Byzantine Fault Tolerance

CHEN Kaijie1(), XIONG Yan1, HUANG Wenchao1, WU Jianshuang2   

  1. 1. Department of Computer Science and Technology, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230022, China
    2. Hefei Tianwei Information Security Technology Co., Ltd., Hefei 230000, China
  • Received:2021-06-10 Online:2021-08-10 Published:2021-09-01
  • Contact: CHEN Kaijie E-mail:ckjkevin@mail.ustc.edu.cn

Abstract:

The blockchain consensus protocol is an important mechanism to ensure that the data of different nodes reach consensus in the blockchain network. With the explosive growth of blockchain applications, attacks against blockchain consensus mechanisms continue to emerge. This paper proposes a formal analysis method of PoS consensus protocol based on Byzantine fault tolerance. To solve the problem of protocol model state space explosion, the method first inductively models the state migration process of all consensus nodes. Then, the communication channel models and attacker models are formally modeled based on the actual security threats. Finally, according to the requirements of protocol consistency, two kinds of security properties are formally modeled and verified. The experimental results show that the protocol has the claimed Byzantine fault tolerance, and the protocol has a double-spending attack against the zero-confirmation transaction. This paper further analyzes the conditions to implement the attack and puts forward suggestions for protection.

Key words: blockchain consensus protocol, Byzantine fault tolerance, inductive modeling, formal analysis

CLC Number: