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IBC Connection Handshake (ICS3) TLA+ spec

This is a high-level TLA+ spec for the IBC Connection Handshake (ICS3) protocol. The spec has four modules:

  • Environment.tla (main model lives here).
  • ICS3Module.tla (the spec for the ICS3 module).
  • ICS3Types.tla (common domain definitions).
  • ICS3Utils.tla (common actions live here).

To run this spec:

  1. add the modules in a new specification in the toolbox
  2. specify values for constants MaxHeight, MaxBufLen, and Concurrency. Two additional constants serve the version negotiation algorithm in the handshake:
    • MaxVersionNr -- typical value 2; or set to 1 to make version negotiation trivial;
    • VersionPickMode -- typical value "onAckDet"; parametrizes the strategy for negotiating versions (see below).

Note the assumptions:

ASSUME MaxHeight > 4
ASSUME MaxBufLen >= 1
ASSUME VersionPickMode \in
    {"overwrite",
    "onTryDet",
    "onTryNonDet",
    "onAckDet",
    "onAckNonDet"}

Typical values could be: MaxHeight = 5 and MaxBufLen = 2. The Concurrency flag enables/disables some non-determinism of the environment, specifically:

  • if TRUE, then the environment can non-deterministically update the light client of a chain. This configuration simulates a liveness problem caused by the way relayers use UpdateClient, and will lead the model to stutter. To be clear: the stuttering is not caused by a bug in the ICS3 protocol itself; this model simply captures the original faulty relayer algorithms surrounding the ICS3 protocol. See more details in the disclosure log.
  • if FALSE, then the model should check correctly.

  1. add the invariant ConsistencyInv and TypeInvariant as well as the property (temporal formula) Termination.

  2. run the model checker.

Version negotiation modes

We introduce different version picking modes, which are used to parameterize the way in which versions are picked during the connection handshake. That is, the constant VersionPickMode can take one of the following values:

  • overwrite : a version is picked non-deterministically when handling ICS3MsgTry, local version gets overwritten with version(s) sent in datagrams;
  • onTryNonDet : a version is picked non-deterministically when handling ICS3MsgTry, local version is chosen from intersection of local and datagram versions;
  • onTryDet : a version is picked deterministically when handling ICS3MsgTry, local version is chosen from intersection of local and datagram versions;
  • onAckNonDet : a version is picked non-deterministically when handling ICS3MsgAck, local version is chosen from intersection of local and datagram versions;
  • onAckDet : a version is picked non-deterministically when handling ICS3MsgAck, local version is chosen from intersection of local and datagram versions.

The table below details these modes:

Mode\Action HandleMsgTry(m) HandleMsgAck(m) HandleMsgConfirm(m)
overwrite pick a version from m.versions \intersect conn.versions non-deterministically, send the picked version to counterparty in ICS3MsgAck store m.version locally, send it to counterparty in ICS3MsgConfirm store m.version locally
onTryNonDet pick a version from m.versions \intersect conn.versions non-deterministically, send the picked version to counterparty in ICS3MsgAck check if received version in ICS3MsgAck is in list of local versions, accept it if it is, send it to counterparty in ICS3MsgConfirm check if received version is the same as one stored in connection end
onTryDet pick a version from m.versions \intersect conn.versions deterministically (e.g. maximum), store & send the picked version to counterparty in ICS3MsgAck check if received version in ICS3MsgAck is in list of local versions, accept & store it if it is, then send it to counterparty in ICS3MsgConfirm check if received version is the same as one stored in connection end
onAckNonDet send the value of m.versions \intersect conn.versions to counterparty in ICS3MsgAck, store the intersection locally pick a version from m.versions \intersect conn.versions non-deterministically, send the intersection to counterparty in ICS3MsgConfirm pick a version from conn.versions non-deterministically
onAckDet send the value of the intersection m.versions \intersect conn.versions to counterparty in ICS3MsgAck, store the intersection locally pick a version from m.versions \intersect conn.versions deterministically (e.g. maximum), send the intersection to counterparty in ICS3MsgConfirm pick a version from conn.versions deterministically (e.g. maximum)