Ethereum core developers have asked application teams to help assess whether proposed gas-pricing changes in the Glamsterdam upgrade require revision, as the Hoodi testnet fork remains postponed pending resolution of security concerns tied to eight smart contract invariants.
In a Nov. 6 post on the Ethereum Foundation blog, developer Marius van der Wijden called on developers and auditors to check eight gas assumptions affected by the upgrade, which includes EIP-8037 and EIP-8038. The two proposals would change how gas is charged: EIP-8037 would raise the cost of creating persistent blockchain data and meter state growth separately from execution, while EIP-8038 would reprice access and writes to existing state.
The Hoodi testnet's planned Oct. 26 activation and an accompanying 200 million gas-limit increase were postponed on Oct. 22 after an Oct. 13 report from smart contract auditor ChainSecurity found the EIPs could break contracts that rely on fixed gas-related assumptions when external calls fail. The Ethereum Foundation said in a Friday blog post that some existing projects rely on assumptions that certain operations would cost a specific amount of gas, which the proposals would invalidate.
The eight-invariant framework covers three price assumptions (fixed budgets and reserves) and five accounting assumptions involving gas returns, failure handling, billing and delegation. ChainSecurity and Dedaub are investigating alongside internal audits, but the review also needs projects to explain how they could repair affected systems.
One consequence concerns relayers, who pay to execute transactions for others and may recover costs by measuring gas before and after work. Under EIP-8037, a transaction initially funds a separate state-gas reservoir when its gas limit exceeds 16,777,216. Solidity's gasleft() reading excludes that reservoir, so subtracting two readings can miss costs the relayer actually pays. If the later reading exceeds the earlier one, checked subtraction reverts, blocking the operation; unchecked subtraction can wrap into a large number and potentially produce excessive reimbursement, depending on the surrounding arithmetic and payment checks.
Another issue, INV-8, examines EIP-7702 delegation. Under the proposed rules, insufficient gas during pre-execution can leave a transaction included in a block while rolling back its delegation and a related account-sequence-number update. An exposed authorization that still satisfies validity checks could then be reused. If the delegated contract also has an initializer that lets the first caller choose the owner, an attacker could apply the authorization and initialize ownership in one transaction.
Glamsterdam's Sepolia testnet went live on Oct. 6 in one of its final major rehearsals. The upgrade aims to advance Ethereum's layer-1 scaling roadmap with enshrined proposer-builder separation, block-level access lists and changes to gas pricing that better reflect execution cost. Mainnet activation remains unset.
Analysis
Why This Matters
- Widespread dApp disruption: Gas re-pricing could break billing logic, wallet safety and relay operations for thousands of Ethereum projects, requiring significant rewrites.
- Mainnet timeline uncertainty: The indefinite Hoodi delay pushes the Glamsterdam mainnet release further out, affecting Ethereum's layer-1 scaling roadmap.
- New governance precedent: Asking application teams to co-decide on protocol changes may set a pattern for future hard forks, increasing community involvement in technical decisions.
Background
Ethereum's Glamsterdam upgrade is part of a broader push to improve layer-1 throughput while controlling node storage. EIP-8037 and EIP-8038 aim to charge state-creating operations more accurately, but they change gas metering in ways that affect existing smart contracts. The Hoodi testnet was meant to be the final rehearsal before mainnet, but its activation has been delayed since late October after auditors flagged the invariants.
Key Perspectives
- Ethereum Foundation (Marius van der Wijden): Asked devs and auditors to check eight gas assumptions and report whether a setting, upgrade or migration can fix their problem, and roughly when. The repository asks for concrete reports of what breaks and how to repair it.
- ChainSecurity: Found that EIP-8037 and EIP-8038 could break smart contracts that rely on fixed gas-related assumptions when external calls fail, particularly changed costs and returned gas that can let a contract permanently record an underfunded operation as unsuccessful.
What to Watch
- Whether project teams report widespread breaks or manageable migrations, which will determine if the EIPs are revised or proceed as is.
- If a protocol-level change (e.g. charging worst-case authorization costs upfront for INV-8) is adopted to address delegation reuse risks.
- When the Hoodi testnet activation is rescheduled, a key indicator for the mainnet launch timeline.
Checked
12 claims in this story checked against 2 sources: 12 supported.
Show each claim
- SupportedEthereum developers are asking application teams to help decide whether the proposed Glamsterdam gas changes need revision.CryptoSlate: “Ethereum’s core developers are asking application teams to help decide whether proposed gas changes in the Glamsterdam upgrade need revision”
- SupportedThe Hoodi fork remains delayed until security concerns tied to eight smart contract invariants are resolved.Cointelegraph.com News: “Ethereum core developers delayed the Glamsterdam upgrade’s implementation on the Hoodi testnet until security concerns tied to eight smart contract invariants are resolved.”
- SupportedGlamsterdam’s mainnet activation date is still unset.CryptoSlate: “The Nov. 6 appeal says the delay continues pending resolution, while the notices leave mainnet activation unset.”
- SupportedIn a Nov. 6 Ethereum Foundation blog post, Marius van der Wijden asked developers and auditors to check eight gas assumptions affected by the proposed upgrade.CryptoSlate: “In a Nov. 6 post on the Ethereum Foundation blog, Marius van der Wijden asked developers and auditors to check eight gas assumptions affected by the proposed upgrade.”
- SupportedEIP-8037 would raise the cost of creating persistent blockchain data and meter state growth separately from execution.CryptoSlate: “Glamsterdam’s EIP-8037 would raise the cost of creating persistent blockchain data and meter that state growth separately from execution”
- SupportedEIP-8038 would reprice access to and writes to existing state.CryptoSlate: “EIP-8038 would reprice access and writes to existing state.”
- SupportedThe Hoodi testnet’s planned Oct. 26 activation and accompanying 200 million gas-limit increase were postponed on Oct. 22.CryptoSlate: “The Hoodi testnet’s planned Oct. 26 activation and accompanying 200 million gas-limit increase were postponed on Oct. 22.”
- SupportedChainSecurity’s Oct. 13 report found that the two proposals could break contracts relying on fixed gas-related assumptions when external calls fail.Cointelegraph.com News: “The decision followed an Oct. 13 report from smart contract auditor ChainSecurity, which found that the two Ethereum Improvement Proposals (EIPs) could break smart contracts that rely on fixed gas-related assumptions when external calls fail.”
- SupportedThe Ethereum Foundation said existing projects rely on gas-cost assumptions that EIP-8037 and EIP-8038 would invalidate.Cointelegraph.com News: “Some existing Ethereum projects rely on assumptions that certain operations would cost a specific amount of gas, which would be invalidated by Glamsterdam’s EIP-8037 and EIP-8038 because they change how gas is charged for certain operations, the Ethereum Foundation said in a Friday blog post .”
- SupportedThe eight-invariant framework covers three price assumptions and five accounting assumptions.CryptoSlate: “The eight-invariant framework separates three price assumptions, covering fixed budgets and reserves, from five accounting assumptions involving gas returns, failure handling, billing and delegation.”
- SupportedBecause Solidity’s gasleft() reading excludes the state-gas reservoir, a relayer’s before-and-after readings can miss costs it pays.CryptoSlate: “Solidity’s gasleft() reading excludes the reservoir, so subtracting two readings can miss costs that the relayer actually pays.”
- SupportedUnder INV-8, an exposed authorization that still meets its validity checks can be reused.CryptoSlate: “An exposed authorization that still satisfies its validity checks, including the authorizing account’s nonce, can then be reused.”
