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Ethereum Delays Glamsterdam Hoodi Fork Over Smart Contract Security Risks
Gas-Accounting Concerns Force Developers to Cancel Planned Testnet Activation
TL;DR
- Ethereum canceled the planned Glamsterdam activation on the Hoodi testnet after security concerns involving existing smart contracts.
- ChainSecurity found 13 real-world examples where proposed gas changes could alter how contracts handle failed operations.
- Hoodi has no new activation date, while Glamsterdam’s mainnet schedule remains undecided.
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Ethereum developers have postponed the Glamsterdam upgrade on the Hoodi testnet, canceling its planned October 26 activation after security researchers identified risks tied to changes in Ethereum’s gas accounting. The delay applies to Hoodi testing and does not mean Glamsterdam itself has been canceled.
The Ethereum Foundation announced the postponement after developers sought more time to study how the proposed gas changes could interact with smart contracts already deployed on Ethereum mainnet. ChainSecurity said on October 22 that it was in responsible disclosure with affected projects after finding “13 real-world examples” of the security issue.
“It has just been decided to delay the Glamsterdam hard fork on the Hoodi testnet because of security impacts we identified,” ChainSecurity wrote.
Ethereum researcher Christine Kim said node operators should revert to an older software version that does not schedule the upgrade or wait for their execution client team to release a version canceling it. Preston Van Loon, a developer working on the Prysm consensus client, said a Prysm release removing Glamsterdam from Hoodi’s schedule would follow the same day.
Glamsterdam Gas Changes Could Alter Contract Failure Behavior
The security concern centers on changes to how Ethereum accounts for gas when contracts create or access blockchain state. Glamsterdam introduces EIP-8037 and EIP-8038, along with a separate pool of gas for creating new state.
Some deployed contracts rely on gas checks or expect an external call to run out of gas under specific conditions. ChainSecurity said those assumptions can help prevent insufficient gas griefing, where an attacker deliberately provides too little gas so that a valid operation fails and becomes recorded as a permanent failure.
Glamsterdam changes those mechanics. Gas can be returned or refilled after a failed call, while repricing can alter how much gas an operation needs. That can leave a contract with a different gas balance from what its existing logic expects.
“Even with unchanged contract code, a failure path that previously reverted can now complete,” ChainSecurity said.
The firm urged projects to review their contracts. The Ethereum Foundation is assessing how many deployed contracts could be affected. The findings indicate a compatibility issue involving existing contract assumptions rather than a deliberate change to those applications’ underlying code.
Hoodi Delay Leaves Mainnet Timeline Open
Glamsterdam has already been activated on Sepolia, another Ethereum test network. The Hoodi postponement therefore affects the next stage of testing rather than reversing the upgrade across Ethereum’s test networks.
Glamsterdam also includes block-level access lists, which allow computers to check transactions in parallel, and enshrined proposer-builder separation, which moves the process for deciding who assembles blocks into Ethereum’s protocol rules.
No replacement Hoodi activation date has been announced. Developers must investigate the compatibility concerns before testing resumes, while the mainnet deployment schedule remains undecided.
ETH price was reported below $2,400 and down around 0.5%, trading within a daily range of $2,370 to $2,415. The Hoodi postponement represents a change to the upgrade’s testing schedule rather than a change to current Ethereum mainnet operations.
This article has been refined and enhanced by ChatGPT.
