Should we apply the same logic to all reserved system contracts addresses?

[yangby-cryptape]

Description

• As the following code defined:

  https://github.com/axonweb3/axon/blob/6a574cdbe0b0f826968602d253721606f2cd5ded/core/executor/src/system_contract/mod.rs#L42-L47

  All addresses between 0xffff..ff00 and 0xffff..ffff are system contracts.

• But only 3 addresses in them are used.

  https://github.com/axonweb3/axon/blob/6a574cdbe0b0f826968602d253721606f2cd5ded/core/executor/src/system_contract/metadata/mod.rs#L29 https://github.com/axonweb3/axon/blob/6a574cdbe0b0f826968602d253721606f2cd5ded/core/executor/src/system_contract/ckb_light_client/mod.rs#L20 https://github.com/axonweb3/axon/blob/6a574cdbe0b0f826968602d253721606f2cd5ded/core/executor/src/system_contract/image_cell/mod.rs#L20

• When executing a system contract, only above 3 contracts that have been clearly defined are dispatched to the system contracts process.

  https://github.com/axonweb3/axon/blob/6a574cdbe0b0f826968602d253721606f2cd5ded/core/executor/src/lib.rs#L152-L153 https://github.com/axonweb3/axon/blob/6a574cdbe0b0f826968602d253721606f2cd5ded/core/executor/src/system_contract/mod.rs#L204-L223

  Other executions which are to the reserved addresses of system contracts are processed as normal executions.

• As far as we know, a normal contract and a system contract are very different.

  • They have different restrictions, for example: #1490.
  • System contracts use special storage, which are isolated.
  • They use different JSON-RPC APIs for storage data and proofs (ref: #1561).

---

:question: So, my question is: once a reserved system contract is enabled in the future, how to treat the difference between now and then after that?

An example of current Axon:

• Now, 0xffff..ff04 is an undeployed system contract address.
  • It's payable.
  • The data, even be empty, should be accessed with eth_getStorageAt and the proofs of its storage should be generated with eth_getProof.
• Once it is deployed.
  • It's NOT payable.
  • The data should be accessed with axon_getSystemContractStorageAt and the proofs of its storage should be generated with axon_getSystemContractProof.^1

Should we apply the same logic to those reserved system contracts now?

Let all system contracts, even reserved system contracts:

• Should NOT be payable.
• The data should be accessed with axon_getSystemContractStorageAt and the proofs of its storage should be generated with axon_getSystemContractProof.

[Flouse]

My Humble Opinion

1. reserved system_contract_addresses is defined in

   https://github.com/axonweb3/axon/blob/6a574cdbe0b0f826968602d253721606f2cd5ded/core/executor/src/system_contract/mod.rs#L42-L47

2. Just return error in eth_getStorageAt and eth_getProof when an address is system_contract_address

3. fix system_contract_dispatch function It should handle all reserved system_contract_addresses.

Need confirmations before coding

• [x] @KaoImin
• [x] @driftluo
• [x] @yangby-cryptape

[Flouse]

• Just return error in eth_getStorageAt and eth_getProof when an address is system_contract_address

I think this change is not implemented.

Test

curl -X POST localhost:8000 \
  --data '{"jsonrpc":"2.0", "method": "eth_getStorageAt", "params": ["0xffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff04", "0x0", "latest"], "id": 1}' \
  --header 'Content-Type: application/json' 

# Result
{"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":1,"result":"0x00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000004d2"}

Expected result

Not allow to call system contract address

ref: https://github.com/axonweb3/axon/issues/1561#issuecomment-1814374378