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Cosmos IBC Security: Cross-Chain Communication Risks

Analysis of Inter-Blockchain Communication (IBC) security in the Cosmos ecosystem.

ExVul Research Team

ExVul Research Team

Security Researchers

August 202413 min
#Cosmos#IBC#Cross-chain
Cosmos IBC Security: Cross-Chain Communication Risks

IBC Protocol

IBC enables trustless communication between Cosmos SDK chains. Understanding its security model is crucial for cross-chain application developers.

Security Model

  • Light client verification
  • Relayer trust assumptions
  • Timeout and acknowledgment handling
  • Channel ordering guarantees

IBC's security relies on the security of both the source and destination chains. A compromised chain can affect all connected chains.

Chain Security

IBC security depends on connected chains

Timeout Handling

Always handle packet timeouts properly

Relayer Independence

Don't trust relayer for security

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