External Call Abuse

Definition ∞ External call abuse in smart contract security refers to vulnerabilities where a contract makes an external call to another contract or address, which then maliciously re-enters the calling contract or performs other unintended actions. This exploit can lead to unauthorized fund transfers, state manipulation, or denial-of-service attacks. It arises from improper handling of control flow and trust assumptions in decentralized applications. Preventing this requires careful contract design and security audits.
Context ∞ Incidents of external call abuse have resulted in significant financial losses within the decentralized finance (DeFi) sector, often making headlines in crypto news. Developers and security auditors are continually refining best practices to mitigate this risk, emphasizing reentrancy guards and careful external interaction patterns. Understanding this vulnerability is crucial for evaluating the security of smart contracts and protecting digital assets.