Rolling in the Shadows

This repository contains our dataset of detected MEV across Ethereum and Layer-2 Rollups such as Arbitrum, Optimism, and zkSync. It also includes a collection of tools that we used to measure and compare MEV as well as a proof-of-concept implementation of cross-layer sandwich attacks where we demonstrate that frontrunning is possible on Layer-2 Rollups as a normal user (i.e., without being a sequencer).

Our paper can be found here.

Quick start

A container with all the dependencies can be found here.

To run the container, please install docker and run:

⚠️ Please make sure that you have cloned this repository beforehand and that your current working directory is the root folder of this repository. Alternatively change the path -v ./:/root below. This is because the container will first try to import all the data into an instance of MongoDB when started. Please keep in mind that this process might take a while, so feel free to grab a cup of coffee meanwhile. ⚠️

docker pull christoftorres/rolling-in-the-shadows && docker run -m 16g --memory-swap="24g" -p 8888:8888 -v ./:/root -it christoftorres/rolling-in-the-shadows:latest

After starting the container it will import all the collected data into an instance of MongoDB running inside the container and finally launch a jupyter notebook server.

Custom Docker image build

docker build -t rolling-in-the-shadows .
docker run -m 16g --memory-swap="24g" -p 8888:8888 -v ./:/root -it rolling-in-the-shadows:latest

Installation instructions

1. Install MongoDB

MacOS

brew tap mongodb/brew
brew install [email protected]

Ubuntu

curl -fsSL https://www.mongodb.org/static/pgp/server-6.0.asc | gpg -o /usr/share/keyrings/mongodb-server-6.0.gpg --dearmor
echo "deb [ arch=amd64,arm64 signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/mongodb-server-6.0.gpg ] https://repo.mongodb.org/apt/ubuntu jammy/mongodb-org/6.0 multiverse" | tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mongodb-org-6.0.list
apt-get update
apt-get install mongodb-org=6.0.4 mongodb-org-database=6.0.4 mongodb-org-server=6.0.4 mongodb-org-mongos=6.0.4 mongodb-org-tools=6.0.4

For other operating systems follow the installation instructions on mongodb.com.

2. Install Python dependencies

python3 -m pip install -r requirements.txt

Measuring MEV extraction in the wild

Make sure MongoDB is running and that you have installed all Python dependencies.

⚠️ To measure past MEV extraction you will need a connection to a fully synched archive node and change PROVIDER in scripts/utils/settings.py accordingly. ⚠️

Downloading Flashbots data for Ethereum

cd scripts/mev/flashbots
python3 download_falshbots_data.py <BLOCK_RANGE_START>:<BLOCK_RANGE_END>

Measuring arbitrage

cd scripts/mev/arbitrage/ethereum
python3 arbitrage.py <BLOCK_RANGE_START>:<BLOCK_RANGE_END>

cd scripts/mev/arbitrage/arbitrum
python3 arbitrage.py <BLOCK_RANGE_START>:<BLOCK_RANGE_END>

cd scripts/mev/arbitrage/optimism
python3 arbitrage.py <BLOCK_RANGE_START>:<BLOCK_RANGE_END>

cd scripts/mev/arbitrage/zksync
python3 arbitrage.py <BLOCK_RANGE_START>:<BLOCK_RANGE_END>

Measuring liquidation

cd scripts/mev/liquidation/ethereum
python3 liquidation.py <BLOCK_RANGE_START>:<BLOCK_RANGE_END>

cd scripts/mev/liquidation/arbitrum
python3 liquidation.py <BLOCK_RANGE_START>:<BLOCK_RANGE_END>

cd scripts/mev/liquidation/optimism
python3 liquidation.py <BLOCK_RANGE_START>:<BLOCK_RANGE_END>

cd scripts/mev/liquidation/zksync
python3 liquidation.py <BLOCK_RANGE_START>:<BLOCK_RANGE_END>

Measuring sandwiching

cd scripts/mev/sandwiching/ethereum
python3 sandwiching.py <BLOCK_RANGE_START>:<BLOCK_RANGE_END>

cd scripts/mev/sandwiching/arbitrum
python3 sandwiching.py <BLOCK_RANGE_START>:<BLOCK_RANGE_END>

cd scripts/mev/sandwiching/optimism
python3 sandwiching.py <BLOCK_RANGE_START>:<BLOCK_RANGE_END>

cd scripts/mev/sandwiching/zksync
python3 sandwiching.py <BLOCK_RANGE_START>:<BLOCK_RANGE_END>

Measuring opportunities

Arbitrage

cd scripts/mev/opportunities/arbitrage/ethereum
python3 opportunity.py

cd scripts/mev/opportunities/arbitrage/arbitrum
python3 opportunity.py

cd scripts/mev/opportunities/arbitrage/optimism
python3 opportunity.py

cd scripts/mev/opportunities/arbitrage/zksync
python3 opportunity.py

Liquidation

cd scripts/mev/opportunities/liquidation/ethereum
python3 opportunity.py

cd scripts/mev/opportunities/liquidation/arbitrum
python3 opportunity.py

cd scripts/mev/opportunities/liquidation/optimism
python3 opportunity.py

cd scripts/mev/opportunities/liquidation/zksync
python3 opportunity.py

Downloading bytecode of MEV bots

cd scripts/mev/code_reuse
python3 download_and_disassemble_bytecode.py <BLOCK_RANGE_START>:<BLOCK_RANGE_END>

Collecting L2 transactions sent via L1

cd scripts/cross_layer_sandwiching/l1_analyzer
python3 L1MessageAnalyzer.py <BLOCK_RANGE_START>:<BLOCK_RANGE_END>

Linking L1 transactions to L2 transactions

cd scripts/cross_layer_sandwiching/l2_analyzer
python3 L2MessageAnalyzer.py <BLOCK_RANGE_START>:<BLOCK_RANGE_END> arbitrum

cd scripts/cross_layer_sandwiching/l2_analyzer
python3 L2MessageAnalyzer.py <BLOCK_RANGE_START>:<BLOCK_RANGE_END> optimism

cd scripts/cross_layer_sandwiching/l2_analyzer
python3 L2MessageAnalyzer.py zksync

Simulating cross-layer sandwich attacks

cd scripts/cross_layer_sandwiching/simulation
python3 arbitrum_attack_simulator.py

cd scripts/cross_layer_sandwiching/simulation
python3 optimism_attack_simulator.py

Testnet cross-layer sandwich attack validation

cd scripts/cross_layer_sandwiching/testnet
python3 attacker_script_arbitrum_all_attacks.py

cd scripts/cross_layer_sandwiching/testnet
python3 attacker_script_optimism_all_attacks.py

cd scripts/cross_layer_sandwiching/testnet
python3 attacker_script_zksync_all_attacks.py

Required Solidity contracts can be found in scripts/cross_layer_sandwiching/testnet/contracts.

Comparing and analyzing extracted MEV (i.e., reproducing the results in our paper)

Make sure Juypter notebook is running and that you have installed all Python dependencies.

Then open up http://localhost:8888 on your browser and navigate to analysis.

To compare and analyze MEV volume (Section 4.1) run:

4_1_volume.ipynb

To compare and analyze MEV profits (Section 4.2) run:

4_2_profits.ipynb

To compare and analyze MEV costs (Section 4.3) run:

4_3_costs.ipynb

To compare and analyze MEV opportunities (Section 4.4) run:

4_4_opportunities.ipynb

To compare and analyze MEV competition (Section 4.5) run:

4_5_competition.ipynb

To compare and analyze MEV flash loans (Section 4.6) run:

4_6_flash_loans.ipynb

To compare and analyze MEV code reuse (Section 4.7) run:

4_7_code_reuse.ipynb

To compare and analyze cross-layer sandwiching victim inference (Section 5.3.1) run:

5_3_1_victim_inference.ipynb

To compare and analyze cross-layer sandwiching transaction inclusion delays (Section 5.3.2) run:

5_3_2_transaction_inclusion_delays.ipynb

To compare and analyze cross-layer sandwiching estimated profits (Section 5.3.3) run:

5_3_3_estimated_profits.ipynb

Attribution

If using this repository for research, please cite as:

@article{rollingintheshadows,
  author       = {Ferreira Torres, Christof and
                  Mamuti, Albin and
                  Weintraub, Ben and
                  Nita{-}Rotaru, Cristina and
                  Shinde, Shweta},
  title        = {Rolling in the Shadows: Analyzing the Extraction of {MEV} Across Layer-2 Rollups},
  booktitle    = {Proceedings of the 2024 {ACM} {SIGSAC} Conference on Computer and
                  Communications Security, {CCS} 2024, Salt Lake City, UT, USA, October
                  14-18, 2024},
  publisher    = {{ACM}},
  year         = {2024}
}