Following security audits, the Optimism (OP) Foundation has disabled permissionless proofs of fraud, a mechanism that allows users to dispute potentially fraudulent transactions on a layer-2 network, due to critical vulnerabilities discovered.
Unlike permissioned fraud proofs, which rely on trusted entities to dispute transactions, the permissionless model opened this feature to all users.
This development was a critical step in achieving what Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin called “Stage 1 decentralization.”
Despite the optimism following the release, audits revealed several vulnerabilities, leading the foundation to revert the network to a permissioned state. In a post on X (formerly Twitter), the foundation explained that none of the bugs were exploited and user funds were never at risk, but that the decision was made to maintain network stability during the patching process.
Mofi Taiwo, a protocol engineer at OP Labs, summarized the findings in a proposal submitted to Optimism’s governance forum. According to Taiwo, the audits revealed two high-severity issues, but they were addressed immediately. “None of the vulnerabilities were exploited and user assets are not at risk and never have been. However, out of an abundance of caution, the permissioned fallback mechanism was enabled to prevent any potential instability,” he wrote.
*This is not investment advice.
