Arbitrum Halts New Contract Activations Amid AI-Assisted Attack Risks

Arbitrum, a leading Ethereum layer 2 scaling solution, has taken a precautionary measure to mitigate the risk of AI-assisted attacks on its network. The company's Security Council has temporarily blocked new Stylus contract activations on Arbitrum One and Nova, citing increasingly sophisticated attacks involving hand-crafted WebAssembly programs.

The pause affects new Stylus applications, but existing programs can continue to run until their expiration dates. The Council has also implemented a separate safeguard for BoLD's one-step proofs on Arbitrum One, which can delay unconfirmed withdrawals to Ethereum if conflicting proofs are presented.

Arbitrum attributed the measure to the growing threat of AI-assisted attacks, which primarily target chain liveness and pose denial-of-service risks. The company emphasized that no attack permitting theft of user funds has been discovered.