📅 Original date posted:2023-06-06
🗒️ Summary of this message: The Lightning Network may be vulnerable to liquidity griefing, where a counterparty locks up resources without paying fees. A "soft lock" strategy may not be enough to prevent this, and other solutions, such as the Staking Credentials framework, may need to be explored.
📝 Original message:
Hi Bastien,
> This can be fixed by using a "soft lock" when selecting utxos for a non
> 0-conf funding attempt. 0-conf funding attempts must ignore soft locked
> utxos while non 0-conf funding attempts can (should) reuse soft locked
> utxos.
If my understanding of the "soft lock" strategy is correct - Only locking
UTXO when it's a non 0-conf funding attempt - I think you're still exposed
to liquidity griefing with dual-funding or splicing.
The vector of griefing you're mentioning is the lack of signature release
for a shared input by your counterparty. However, in the context of
dual-funding where the counterparty can add any output with
`tx_add_output`, the transaction can be pinned in the mempool in a very
sneaky way e.g abuse of replacement rule 3.
This latter pinning vector is advantageous to the malicious counterparty as
I think you can batch your pinning against unrelated dual-funding, only
linked in the mempool by a malicious pinning CPFP.
It is left as an exercise to the reader to find other vectors of pinnings
that can be played out in the dual-funding flow.
In terms of (quick) solution to prevent liquidity griefing related to
mempool vectors, the (honest) counterparty can enforce that any contributed
outputs must be encumbered by a 1 CSV, unless being a 2-of-2 funding.
Still, this mitigation can be limited as I think the initial commitment
transaction must have anchor outputs on each-side, for each party to
recover its contributed UTXOs in any case.
> Then we immediately send `channel_ready` as well and start using that
> channel (because we know we won't double spend ourselves). This is nice
> because it lets us use 0-conf in a way where only one side of the
> channel needs to trust the other side (instead of both sides trusting
> each other).
>From the 0-conf initiator viewpoint (the one contributing the UTXO(s)), it
can still be valuable to disable inbound payments, or requires a longer
`cltv_expiry_delta` than usual, in case of mempool fee spikes delaying the
0-conf chain confirmation.
Beyond, it sounds liquidity griefing provoked by a lack of signature
release or mempool funny games will always be there ? Even for the second
with package relay/nVersion deployment, there is still the duration between
the pinning happening among network mempools and your replacement broadcast
kickstarts.
As a more long-term solution, we might reuse solutions worked out to
mitigate channel jamming, as the abstract problem is the same, namely your
counterparty can lock up scarce resources without (on-chain/off-chain
whatever) fees paid.
E.g the Staking Credentials framework could be deployed by dual-funding
market-makers beyond routing hops [0]. The dual-funding initiator should
pay to the maker a fee scale up on the amount of UTXOs contributed, and
some worst-case liquidity griefing scenario. A privacy-preserving
credential can be introduced between the payment of the fee and the redeem
of the service to unlink dual-funding initiators (if the maker has enough
volume to constitute a reasonable anonymity set).
Best,
Antoine
[0]
https://lists.linuxfoundation.org/pipermail/lightning-dev/2023-May/003964.html
Le sam. 6 mai 2023 à 04:15, Bastien TEINTURIER <bastien at acinq.fr> a écrit :
> Good morning list,
>
> One of the challenges created by the introduction of dual funded
> transactions [1] in lightning is how to protect against liquidity
> griefing attacks from malicious peers [2].
>
> Let's start by reviewing this liquidity griefing issue. The dual funding
> protocol starts by exchanging data about the utxos each peer adds to the
> shared transaction, then exchange signatures and broadcast the resulting
> transaction. If peers lock their utxos as soon as they've decided to add
> them to the shared transaction, the remote node may go silent. If that
> happens, the honest node has some liquidity that is locked and unusable.
>
> This cannot easily be fixed by simply unlocking utxos *after* detecting
> that the remote node is fishy, because the remote node would still have
> succeeded at locking your liquidity for a (small) duration, and could
> start other instances of that attack with different node_ids.
>
> An elegant solution to this issue is to never lock utxos used in dual
> funded transactions. If a remote node goes silent in the middle of an
> instance of the protocol, your utxos will automatically be re-used in
> another instance of the protocol. The only drawback with that approach
> is that when you have multiple concurrent instances of dual funding with
> honest peers, some of them may fail because they are double-spent by one
> of the concurrent instances. This is acceptable, since the protocol
> should complete fairly quickly when peers are honest, and at worst, it
> can simply be restarted when failure is detected.
>
> But that solution falls short when using 0-conf, because accidentally
> double-spending a 0-conf channel (because of concurrent instances) can
> result in loss of funds for one of the peers (if payments were made on
> that channel before detecting the double-spend). It seems like using
> 0-conf forces us to lock utxos to avoid this issue, which means that
> nodes offering 0-conf services expose themselves to liquidity griefing.
>
> Another related issue is that nodes that want to offer 0-conf channels
> must ensure that the utxos they use for 0-conf are isolated from the
> utxos they use for non 0-conf, otherwise it is not possible to properly
> lock utxos, because of the following race scenario:
>
> - utxoA is selected for a non 0-conf funding attempt and not locked
> (to protect against liquidity griefing)
> - utxoA is also selected for a 0-conf funding attempt (because it is
> found unlocked in the wallet) and then locked
> - the funding transaction for the 0-conf channel is successfully
> published first and that channel is instantly used for payments
> - the funding transaction for the non 0-conf channel is then published
> and confirms, accidentally double-spending the 0-conf channel
>
> This can be fixed by using a "soft lock" when selecting utxos for a non
> 0-conf funding attempt. 0-conf funding attempts must ignore soft locked
> utxos while non 0-conf funding attempts can (should) reuse soft locked
> utxos.
>
> In eclair, we are currently doing "opportunistic" 0-conf:
>
> - if we receive `channel_ready` immediately (which means that our peer
> trusts us to use 0-conf)
> - and we're the only contributor to the funding transaction (our peer
> doesn't have any input that they could use to double-spend)
> - and the transaction hasn't been RBF-ed yet
>
> Then we immediately send `channel_ready` as well and start using that
> channel (because we know we won't double spend ourselves). This is nice
> because it lets us use 0-conf in a way where only one side of the
> channel needs to trust the other side (instead of both sides trusting
> each other).
>
> Unfortunately, we cannot do that anymore when mixing 0-conf and non
> 0-conf funding attempts, because the utxos may be soft locked,
> preventing us from "upgrading" to 0-conf.
>
> You have successfully reached the end of this quite technical post,
> congrats! My goal with this post is to gather ideas on how we could
> improve that situation and offer good enough protections against
> liquidity griefing for nodes offering 0-conf services. Please share
> your ideas! And yes, I know, 0-conf is a massive implementation pain
> point that we would all like to remove from our codebases, but hey,
> users like it ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
>
> Cheers,
> Bastien
>
> [1] https://github.com/lightning/bolts/pull/851
> [2] https://github.com/lightning/bolts/pull/851#discussion_r997537630
> _______________________________________________
> Lightning-dev mailing list
> Lightning-dev at lists.linuxfoundation.org
> https://lists.linuxfoundation.org/mailman/listinfo/lightning-dev
>
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Antoine Riard [ARCHIVE] /
npub1vj…4x8dd
2023-06-09 13:13:27
in reply to nevent1q…veuc
Author Public Key
npub1vjzmc45k8dgujppapp2ue20h3l9apnsntgv4c0ukncvv549q64gsz4x8ddPublished at
2023-06-09 13:13:27Event JSON
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"content": "📅 Original date posted:2023-06-06\n🗒️ Summary of this message: The Lightning Network may be vulnerable to liquidity griefing, where a counterparty locks up resources without paying fees. A \"soft lock\" strategy may not be enough to prevent this, and other solutions, such as the Staking Credentials framework, may need to be explored.\n📝 Original message:\nHi Bastien,\n\n\u003e This can be fixed by using a \"soft lock\" when selecting utxos for a non\n\u003e 0-conf funding attempt. 0-conf funding attempts must ignore soft locked\n\u003e utxos while non 0-conf funding attempts can (should) reuse soft locked\n\u003e utxos.\n\nIf my understanding of the \"soft lock\" strategy is correct - Only locking\nUTXO when it's a non 0-conf funding attempt - I think you're still exposed\nto liquidity griefing with dual-funding or splicing.\n\nThe vector of griefing you're mentioning is the lack of signature release\nfor a shared input by your counterparty. However, in the context of\ndual-funding where the counterparty can add any output with\n`tx_add_output`, the transaction can be pinned in the mempool in a very\nsneaky way e.g abuse of replacement rule 3.\n\nThis latter pinning vector is advantageous to the malicious counterparty as\nI think you can batch your pinning against unrelated dual-funding, only\nlinked in the mempool by a malicious pinning CPFP.\n\nIt is left as an exercise to the reader to find other vectors of pinnings\nthat can be played out in the dual-funding flow.\n\nIn terms of (quick) solution to prevent liquidity griefing related to\nmempool vectors, the (honest) counterparty can enforce that any contributed\noutputs must be encumbered by a 1 CSV, unless being a 2-of-2 funding.\nStill, this mitigation can be limited as I think the initial commitment\ntransaction must have anchor outputs on each-side, for each party to\nrecover its contributed UTXOs in any case.\n\n\u003e Then we immediately send `channel_ready` as well and start using that\n\u003e channel (because we know we won't double spend ourselves). This is nice\n\u003e because it lets us use 0-conf in a way where only one side of the\n\u003e channel needs to trust the other side (instead of both sides trusting\n\u003e each other).\n\n\u003eFrom the 0-conf initiator viewpoint (the one contributing the UTXO(s)), it\ncan still be valuable to disable inbound payments, or requires a longer\n`cltv_expiry_delta` than usual, in case of mempool fee spikes delaying the\n0-conf chain confirmation.\n\nBeyond, it sounds liquidity griefing provoked by a lack of signature\nrelease or mempool funny games will always be there ? Even for the second\nwith package relay/nVersion deployment, there is still the duration between\nthe pinning happening among network mempools and your replacement broadcast\nkickstarts.\n\nAs a more long-term solution, we might reuse solutions worked out to\nmitigate channel jamming, as the abstract problem is the same, namely your\ncounterparty can lock up scarce resources without (on-chain/off-chain\nwhatever) fees paid.\n\nE.g the Staking Credentials framework could be deployed by dual-funding\nmarket-makers beyond routing hops [0]. The dual-funding initiator should\npay to the maker a fee scale up on the amount of UTXOs contributed, and\nsome worst-case liquidity griefing scenario. A privacy-preserving\ncredential can be introduced between the payment of the fee and the redeem\nof the service to unlink dual-funding initiators (if the maker has enough\nvolume to constitute a reasonable anonymity set).\n\nBest,\nAntoine\n\n[0]\nhttps://lists.linuxfoundation.org/pipermail/lightning-dev/2023-May/003964.html\n\n\nLe sam. 6 mai 2023 à 04:15, Bastien TEINTURIER \u003cbastien at acinq.fr\u003e a écrit :\n\n\u003e Good morning list,\n\u003e\n\u003e One of the challenges created by the introduction of dual funded\n\u003e transactions [1] in lightning is how to protect against liquidity\n\u003e griefing attacks from malicious peers [2].\n\u003e\n\u003e Let's start by reviewing this liquidity griefing issue. The dual funding\n\u003e protocol starts by exchanging data about the utxos each peer adds to the\n\u003e shared transaction, then exchange signatures and broadcast the resulting\n\u003e transaction. If peers lock their utxos as soon as they've decided to add\n\u003e them to the shared transaction, the remote node may go silent. If that\n\u003e happens, the honest node has some liquidity that is locked and unusable.\n\u003e\n\u003e This cannot easily be fixed by simply unlocking utxos *after* detecting\n\u003e that the remote node is fishy, because the remote node would still have\n\u003e succeeded at locking your liquidity for a (small) duration, and could\n\u003e start other instances of that attack with different node_ids.\n\u003e\n\u003e An elegant solution to this issue is to never lock utxos used in dual\n\u003e funded transactions. If a remote node goes silent in the middle of an\n\u003e instance of the protocol, your utxos will automatically be re-used in\n\u003e another instance of the protocol. The only drawback with that approach\n\u003e is that when you have multiple concurrent instances of dual funding with\n\u003e honest peers, some of them may fail because they are double-spent by one\n\u003e of the concurrent instances. This is acceptable, since the protocol\n\u003e should complete fairly quickly when peers are honest, and at worst, it\n\u003e can simply be restarted when failure is detected.\n\u003e\n\u003e But that solution falls short when using 0-conf, because accidentally\n\u003e double-spending a 0-conf channel (because of concurrent instances) can\n\u003e result in loss of funds for one of the peers (if payments were made on\n\u003e that channel before detecting the double-spend). It seems like using\n\u003e 0-conf forces us to lock utxos to avoid this issue, which means that\n\u003e nodes offering 0-conf services expose themselves to liquidity griefing.\n\u003e\n\u003e Another related issue is that nodes that want to offer 0-conf channels\n\u003e must ensure that the utxos they use for 0-conf are isolated from the\n\u003e utxos they use for non 0-conf, otherwise it is not possible to properly\n\u003e lock utxos, because of the following race scenario:\n\u003e\n\u003e - utxoA is selected for a non 0-conf funding attempt and not locked\n\u003e (to protect against liquidity griefing)\n\u003e - utxoA is also selected for a 0-conf funding attempt (because it is\n\u003e found unlocked in the wallet) and then locked\n\u003e - the funding transaction for the 0-conf channel is successfully\n\u003e published first and that channel is instantly used for payments\n\u003e - the funding transaction for the non 0-conf channel is then published\n\u003e and confirms, accidentally double-spending the 0-conf channel\n\u003e\n\u003e This can be fixed by using a \"soft lock\" when selecting utxos for a non\n\u003e 0-conf funding attempt. 0-conf funding attempts must ignore soft locked\n\u003e utxos while non 0-conf funding attempts can (should) reuse soft locked\n\u003e utxos.\n\u003e\n\u003e In eclair, we are currently doing \"opportunistic\" 0-conf:\n\u003e\n\u003e - if we receive `channel_ready` immediately (which means that our peer\n\u003e trusts us to use 0-conf)\n\u003e - and we're the only contributor to the funding transaction (our peer\n\u003e doesn't have any input that they could use to double-spend)\n\u003e - and the transaction hasn't been RBF-ed yet\n\u003e\n\u003e Then we immediately send `channel_ready` as well and start using that\n\u003e channel (because we know we won't double spend ourselves). This is nice\n\u003e because it lets us use 0-conf in a way where only one side of the\n\u003e channel needs to trust the other side (instead of both sides trusting\n\u003e each other).\n\u003e\n\u003e Unfortunately, we cannot do that anymore when mixing 0-conf and non\n\u003e 0-conf funding attempts, because the utxos may be soft locked,\n\u003e preventing us from \"upgrading\" to 0-conf.\n\u003e\n\u003e You have successfully reached the end of this quite technical post,\n\u003e congrats! My goal with this post is to gather ideas on how we could\n\u003e improve that situation and offer good enough protections against\n\u003e liquidity griefing for nodes offering 0-conf services. Please share\n\u003e your ideas! And yes, I know, 0-conf is a massive implementation pain\n\u003e point that we would all like to remove from our codebases, but hey,\n\u003e users like it ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯\n\u003e\n\u003e Cheers,\n\u003e Bastien\n\u003e\n\u003e [1] https://github.com/lightning/bolts/pull/851\n\u003e [2] https://github.com/lightning/bolts/pull/851#discussion_r997537630\n\u003e _______________________________________________\n\u003e Lightning-dev mailing list\n\u003e Lightning-dev at lists.linuxfoundation.org\n\u003e https://lists.linuxfoundation.org/mailman/listinfo/lightning-dev\n\u003e\n-------------- next part --------------\nAn HTML attachment was scrubbed...\nURL: \u003chttp://lists.linuxfoundation.org/pipermail/lightning-dev/attachments/20230607/50378bc7/attachment.html\u003e",
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