2024/12/01 by Annika Wilde, Tim Niklas Gruel, Wilde, Annika +5 · 2 citations
Computer Science · #Computer science #Semantic Web and Ontologies
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2412.00706
published in arXiv (Cornell University) (Cornell University)
openalex publication_date 2024/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/04
An increasing number of distributed platforms combine Trusted Execution Environments (TEEs) with blockchains. Indeed, many hail the combination of TEEs and blockchains a good "marriage": TEEs bring confidential computing to the blockchain while the consensus layer could help defend TEEs from forking attacks. In this paper, we systemize how current blockchain solutions integrate TEEs and to what extent they are secure against forking attacks. To do so, we thoroughly analyze 29 proposals for TEE-based blockchains, ranging from academic proposals to production-ready platforms. We uncover a lack of consensus in the community on how to combine TEEs and blockchains. In particular, we identify four broad means to interconnect TEEs with consensus, analyze their limitations, and discuss possible remedies. Our analysis also reveals previously undocumented forking attacks on three production-ready TEE-based blockchains: Ten, Phala, and the Secret Network. We leverage our analysis to propose effective countermeasures against those vulnerabilities; we responsibly disclosed our findings to the developers of each affected platform.