Solidity Summit Demo
Examples for the Solidity Summit 2020 presentation titled solc-verify: source-level formal verification for Solidity. See slides and the recording of the talk.
Running the examples requires solc-verify to be available (see install instructions or try the Docker image). During the demo, the latest version (commit 4fee04a at the time) was used.
For more information, take a look at the readme of solc-verify, our tool paper, or our paper on formalizing reference types and the memory model.
0-Basic.sol
This is a basic example for a contract that keeps track of two values, x and y, which should always be equal (except of course during intermediate steps within a transaction).
This can be formulated with a contract-level invariant.
A contract level invariant must hold before and after every transaction, i.e., public function call.
Run with solc-verify.py 0-Basic.sol. The tool can prove that both the constructor and the add function satisfies the invariant.
1-Token.sol
This is an example for a simple fixed cap token.
The contract keeps track of users' balances and allows transfers.
The contract-level invariant ensures that the total amount of tokens is constant.
Having only the invariant would still allow, for example to swap the += and -= operators in the transfer function, therefore extra postconditions are added.
The postconditions ensure that the transfer takes place properly.
Run with solc-verify.py 1-Token.sol.
2-TokenBatch.sol
This is the same token example as 1-Token.sol, but with a batch transfer function, illustrating the infamous overflow issue in the BEC Token.
If SafeMath is not used, the multiplication in batchTransfer can overflow, allowing to create
a large amount of tokens out of nowhere.
Run solc-verify with solc-verify.py 2-TokenBatch.sol --arithmetic mod-overflow to detect this issue.
Note that if SafeMath is used for the multiplication (and the other arithmetic operations), solc-verify does not report false overflow alarms.
Furthermore, with contract and loop-level invariants added, solc-verify can also
prove functional properties (such as the total number of tokens is constant).
3-Reentrancy.sol
This is an example for a simple wallet where users can deposit and withdraw, illustrating the infamous reentrancy issue of the DAO.
An external call alone might not always cause reentrancy issues.
By using a contract-level invariant, solc-verify can check if external calls are safe: solc-verify.py 3-Reentrancy.sol.
For the current contract it reports that the invariant does not hold before the external call, which is unsafe.
However, if the balance of the caller is deducted first (before the external call), the contract is safe and solc-verify no longer reports (false) alarms.
Furthermore, it can also prove safety if transfer is used instead of call.
Note that due to modular verification (each function checked independently), the verifier requires an extra hint, a precondition that self-transfers are not possible.
4-Modifications.sol
This is an example for a storage contract where users can add/update/clear their data (which is simply an integer for illustrative purposes).
Furthermore, there is an owner, who can clear any data.
This example illustrates the fine-grained specification possibilities for annotating functions with the data they can modify.
It is possible to specify entire collections to be modified (e.g., entries), or just particular members at particular indexes (e.g., entries[msg.sender].data).
Furthermore, modifications can be restricted with additional conditions (e.g., if msg.sender == owner).
Run with solc-verify.py 4-Modifications.sol.
Note that the private setdata function takes a local storage pointer, which can point to any entry within the contract so it declares entries as a whole for modifications.
Furthermore, note that update calls setdata, which assigns the .set member but update should only modify .data.
However, update requires the .set member to be true so solc-verify can prove that the setdata function does not really modify it with the assignment.
Experimental features
Note that the following features are not (yet) supported on the main branch. At the demo, commit 2365707 was used.
5-Quantifiers.sol
An example contract that keeps track of a sorted (integer) sequence, illustrating the
usage of quantifiers in specification.
The contract-level invariant states that for each index i, j within the range of the array, if i < j then items[i] < items[j] should hold (sortedness).
Run with solc-verify.py 5-Quantifiers.sol.
6-Events.sol
This is a storage contract, similar to 4-Modifications.sol, illustrating the specification possibilities for events. Functions can be annotated with the events that they possibly emit. Furthermore, events can be specified pre- and postconditions.
Run with solc-verify.py 6-Events.sol.