Ethereum Delays Glamsterdam Testnet Fork Over Gas Security Flaws

In brief

• Ethereum developers have called off Monday's Glamsterdam upgrade on the Hoodi testnet after auditor ChainSecurity flagged security issues with its gas changes.
• The firm said the changes could let some smart contracts permanently record failed operations that their code was designed to keep retryable.
• ChainSecurity said it has found 13 real-world examples and is contacting affected projects, as the Ethereum Foundation assesses how many contracts are exposed.

Ethereum developers have postponed the planned activation of the network's Glamsterdam upgrade on its Hoodi test network after security firm ChainSecurity found problems with how the upgrade changes gas, the auditor said on Thursday.

"It has just been decided to delay the Glamsterdam hard fork on the Hoodi testnet because of security impacts we identified," ChainSecurity wrote, adding that it had "already found 13 real-world examples" and was in responsible disclosure with the affected projects.

The upgrade had been due to go live on Hoodi on Monday. Node operators should revert to an older software release without the upgrade scheduled, or wait for their execution client team to release a new version that cancels it, Ethereum researcher Christine Kim said. Preston Van Loon, a developer on the Prysm consensus client, said a Prysm release removing the upgrade from Hoodi's schedule would follow the same day.