Prepared by:
HALBORN
Last Updated 06/27/2025
Date of Engagement: December 23rd, 2024 - January 10th, 2025
100% of all REPORTED Findings have been addressed
All findings
2
Critical
0
High
0
Medium
0
Low
0
Informational
2
Ripple engaged Halborn to conduct a security assessment on XRP Ledger (XRPL) feature amendments, beginning on December 23rd, 2024 and ending on January 10th, 2025. The security assessment was scoped to the features provided to the Halborn team.
Commit hashes and further details can be found in the Scope section of this report.
The Permissioned Domains feature introduced a new transaction type and structures to allow the creation of domains whitelisting specific credential bearers to send and receive transactions within that permissioned domain.
The team at Halborn assigned a full-time security engineer to assess the security of the node. The security engineer is a blockchain and smart-contract security expert with advanced penetration testing, smart-contract hacking, and deep knowledge of multiple blockchain protocols.
The purpose of this assessment is to:
Ensure that the new features operate as intended.
Identify potential security issues with the new features.
In summary, Halborn identified some improvements to reduce the likelihood and impact of risks, which were acknowledged by the Ripple team:
Improve the error handling.
Mind of unaccepted and expired credentials when implementing additional Permissioned Domain features.
Halborn performed a combination of manual review of the code and automated security testing to balance efficiency, timeliness, practicality, and accuracy in regard to the scope of the node security assessment. While manual testing is recommended to uncover flaws in logic, process, and implementation; automated testing techniques help enhance coverage and can quickly identify items that do not follow security best practices. The following phases and associated tools were used throughout the term of the assessment:
Research into the architecture, purpose, and use of the platform.
Manual code review and walkthrough to identify any logic issue.
Graphing out functionality and contract logic/connectivity/functions.
| EXPLOITABILITY METRIC () | METRIC VALUE | NUMERICAL VALUE |
|---|---|---|
| Attack Origin (AO) | Arbitrary (AO:A) Specific (AO:S) | 1 0.2 |
| Attack Cost (AC) | Low (AC:L) Medium (AC:M) High (AC:H) | 1 0.67 0.33 |
| Attack Complexity (AX) | Low (AX:L) Medium (AX:M) High (AX:H) | 1 0.67 0.33 |
| IMPACT METRIC () | METRIC VALUE | NUMERICAL VALUE |
|---|---|---|
| Confidentiality (C) | None (C:N) Low (C:L) Medium (C:M) High (C:H) Critical (C:C) | 0 0.25 0.5 0.75 1 |
| Integrity (I) | None (I:N) Low (I:L) Medium (I:M) High (I:H) Critical (I:C) | 0 0.25 0.5 0.75 1 |
| Availability (A) | None (A:N) Low (A:L) Medium (A:M) High (A:H) Critical (A:C) | 0 0.25 0.5 0.75 1 |
| Deposit (D) | None (D:N) Low (D:L) Medium (D:M) High (D:H) Critical (D:C) | 0 0.25 0.5 0.75 1 |
| Yield (Y) | None (Y:N) Low (Y:L) Medium (Y:M) High (Y:H) Critical (Y:C) | 0 0.25 0.5 0.75 1 |
| SEVERITY COEFFICIENT () | COEFFICIENT VALUE | NUMERICAL VALUE |
|---|---|---|
| Reversibility () | None (R:N) Partial (R:P) Full (R:F) | 1 0.5 0.25 |
| Scope () | Changed (S:C) Unchanged (S:U) | 1.25 1 |
| Severity | Score Value Range |
|---|---|
| Critical | 9 - 10 |
| High | 7 - 8.9 |
| Medium | 4.5 - 6.9 |
| Low | 2 - 4.4 |
| Informational | 0 - 1.9 |
Critical
0
High
0
Medium
0
Low
0
Informational
2
| Security analysis | Risk level | Remediation Date |
|---|---|---|
| Lack of error handling | Informational | Acknowledged - 02/13/2025 |
| Expired and non accepted credentials could be part of the domain | Informational | Acknowledged - 02/13/2025 |
//Informational
//Informational
Halborn strongly recommends conducting a follow-up assessment of the project either within six months or immediately following any material changes to the codebase, whichever comes first. This approach is crucial for maintaining the project’s integrity and addressing potential vulnerabilities introduced by code modifications.
// Download the full report
Ripple - Smart Contract Audit - Permissioned Domains
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