State Machine Auditing
State machine auditing involves verifying that a smart contract transitions between defined states in a predictable and secure manner. A state machine model treats the contract as a system that can only be in one state at a time, moving to the next based on specific inputs and conditions.
Auditing these transitions ensures that a user cannot, for example, withdraw collateral before a loan is fully repaid or access restricted functions without proper authorization. This approach is critical for complex protocols like decentralized exchanges or margin engines where state consistency is the primary defense against insolvency.
By rigorously checking every possible state transition, auditors can guarantee that the protocol remains in a valid and secure condition regardless of user input. It provides a mathematical framework for proving the correctness of complex protocol operations.