mojtaba-eshghie/HighGuard

HighGuard: Monitoring High-Level Properties in Smart Contracts

HighGuard Logo

Smart contracts embody complex business processes that can be difficult to analyze statically. Therefore, we present HighGuard, a runtime monitoring tool that leverages business process specifications written in DCR graphs to provide runtime verification of smart contract execution. We demonstrate how HighGuard can detect and flag deviations from specified behaviors in smart contracts deployed in the Ethereum network without code instrumentation and any additional gas costs.

Features

Main Features

Fully automated model-based monitoring/testing of smart contracts
Supports DCR graphs enhanced with data and time.

Axiliary Features

Batteries included
Distributed logging

Installation

The ecosystem is tested with:

	Server	Client
Node	v16.20.2	v18.17.1
NPM	8.19.4	9.6.7

Run the npm install in the main repository directory and the following directories:

server/monitor

client

Usage

Using HighGuard in Client-Server Mode

Run the following commands (in order):

In server:

npm start

The server will ask for your DCRGraphs credentials the first time you run it. The credentials will be stored under server/monitor/datastore/ directory as a sqlite database.

In client:

npm start

Go to the following address in your browser (or alternatives that were used if port 3001 is unavailable), and use the monitor web interface: http://localhost:3000

Fill the forms inputs from top to down for it to work properly.

Using Clawk Standalone CLI Monitor

Run the following CLI command using the options in the table below:

node server/monitor/monitorCLI.js

Use the following options with the Clawk Standalone CLI Monitor:

Option	Description	Required
`--help`	Show help	No
`--version`	Show version number	No
`--address`	The address of the deployed contract	Yes
`--dcrID`	The DCR model identifier from DCRGraphs.net website	Yes
`--simID`	The identifier of the specific simulation you want to model this contract against. This identifier is retrievable by going to address https://repository.dcrgraphs.net/api/graphs/${dcrID}/sims/ replacing ${dcrID} with the ID of the model you are trying to monitor against	Yes
`--ABIFileName`	The name of the contract ABI file (for example: PiggyBank.json). You should first put this file in the path `server/monitor/contracts/json-interface`	Yes
`--contract`	The contract parameter	Yes
`--paramap`	Supply parameter mapping for function calls to DCR graphs semantics for any transaction. The same file name as ABIFileName will be looked up in `server/monitor/contracts/paramaps/` directory. Format of the required json file: `{` `"functionName": {` `"paramName": {` `EVMType: "...",` `DCRType: "...",` `DCRNodeID: "..."` `}` `"roleSetter":true` `"roleVariableIdentifier":"owner"` `}` `}`
	No

Example command usage:

node monitorCLI.js --address 0xB343f140a4426dc4eb40C2aFCe777D0509e4dCC0 --dcrID 1700559 --simID 1925367 \
--ABIFileName PiggyBank.json --contract PiggyBank

Cite Us

@misc{HighGuard,
  author       = {Mojtaba Eshghie and Wolfgang Ahrendt and
                  Cyrille Artho and Thomas Troels Hildebrandt and
                  Gerardo Schneider},
  title        = {HighGuard: Monitoring Business Processes in
                  Smart Contracts},
  year         = {2023},
  month        = {May},
  url          = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2305.08254},
  doi          = {10.48550/arXiv.2305.08254},
  abstract     = {Smart contracts embody complex business processes that can be difficult to analyze statically.
                  In this paper, we present HighGuard, a runtime monitoring tool that leverages business process
                  specifications written in DCR graphs to provide runtime verification of smart contract execution.
                  We demonstrate how HighGuard can detect and flag deviations from specified behaviors in smart
                  contracts deployed in the Ethereum network without code instrumentation or additional gas costs.},
  note         = {arXiv:2305.08254v1 [cs.CR]},
  keywords     = {dcr-graphs, dynamic-condition-response,
                  runtime-monitoring, runtime-verification,
                  smart-contract-specifications,
                  smart-contracts-security}
}

Dependencies

Foundry and Anvil should have been installed for running the exploits locally. This is required both when you expand and setup the monitor check its capabilities as well as checking the smart contracts themselves.

Screenshot of the tool web interface (client)

HighGuard Screenshot