Ethereum Shelves Glamsterdam Test After Researchers Uncover Smart Contract Risks
Ethereum developers have postponed the Glamsterdam upgrade’s planned Hoodi testnet activation after researchers found that proposed gas-accounting changes could alter how existing smart contracts respond to failed operations.
The activation had been scheduled for October 26 at 17:42:48 UTC. During Thursday’s All Core Devs Execution meeting, developers decided to delay the rollout while investigating how the changes might affect contracts already deployed on Ethereum.
A new Hoodi activation date has not been announced.
Gas Accounting Changes Could Affect Contract Execution
The concerns focus on EIP-8037, which revises the way Ethereum calculates gas fees for creating new database records. The proposal aims to manage blockchain state growth as the network expands its transaction capacity.
ChainSecurity outlined the potential risks in an analysis published October 13. Its research examined how EIP-8037, when combined with EIP-8038, could affect smart contracts when another contract they call runs out of gas.
Some contracts are programmed to recover from failed calls and continue executing. They might record the failure, prevent another attempt or proceed with a different operation. In some designs, developers expect the transaction to run out of gas during this process, triggering a rollback that reverses all changes.
The proposed rules could disrupt that assumption.
Failed Operations Could Leave Lasting Changes
Under the new accounting model, gas consumed when creating certain database records may be returned if those changes are later reversed. This could leave a contract with enough gas to complete its failure-handling logic instead of triggering a full transaction rollback.
Consequently, a contract could preserve a record of a failed operation that would previously have been undone.
The researchers also identified a potential risk involving higher gas costs. ChainSecurity calculated that creating a new storage slot could require 110,020 gas after a separate allowance runs out, compared with 22,100 gas under the existing rules.
Contracts relying on a predetermined gas budget could therefore fail during operations that would otherwise complete successfully.
These findings point to possible compatibility problems for existing Ethereum software. ChainSecurity demonstrated the mechanisms involved but has not publicly confirmed that a major live protocol is exploitable through the identified scenarios.
Glamsterdam Testing Schedule Faces Further Delays
Glamsterdam includes several protocol changes, among them a new system for selecting block builders and improvements intended to support larger blocks.
The upgrade was activated on Ethereum’s Sepolia testnet on October 6. Hoodi was scheduled to host the next round of public testing, together with a proposed increase in its gas limit to 200 million. Both changes have been delayed.
Developers will need to assess the findings and address any potential issues before choosing a new activation date.
Mainnet Rollout Remains Unscheduled
Ethereum has not confirmed when Glamsterdam will reach the mainnet. The delay reflects the need to examine how the proposed rules could affect existing smart contracts, not evidence that the identified behavior is already being exploited on the live network.
For now, developers are focused on resolving the gas-accounting concerns and ensuring the upgrade can proceed through testing without introducing unexpected contract behavior.
