Surviving in Dark Forest: Towards Evading the Attacks from Front-Running Bots in Application Layer
Zuchao Ma
34th USENIX Security Symposium (USENIX Security '25) · Day 1 · Blockchain Security, Attacks, and Defenses
This talk, "Surviving in Dark Forest: Towards Evading the Attacks from Front-Running Bots in Application Layer," delves into the critical challenge of **front-running attacks** within blockchain ecosystems, specifically focusing on smart contracts at the application layer. Presented by Zuchao Ma, the research explores how smart contracts can effectively evade these sophisticated bot-driven attacks, which aim to profit by having an attacker's transaction confirmed faster than a victim's. The talk highlights the significant financial impact of front-running, which has led to hundreds of millions of USD in losses on platforms like Ethereum, underscoring the urgency of developing robust defensive strategies.
AI review
Solid academic security research with genuine novelty — a systematic taxonomy of 32 application-layer evasion strategies against front-running bots, backed by analysis of 6M+ transactions and a functioning detection framework. This is real work that required real depth, not a DeFi explainer dressed up as research.