Shadow-Bitcoin: Scalable Simulation via Direct Execution of Multi-threaded Applications
We describe a new methodology that enables the direct execution of multi-threaded applications inside of Shadow, an existing parallel discrete-event network simulation framework. Our methodology utilizes function interposition and an application-layer thread library to emulate the ordinary thread interface to the application. Using this methodology, we implement a new Shadow plug-in that directly executes the Bitcoin reference client software. We describe optimizations that enable scalable execution of thousands of Bitcoin nodes on a single machine, and discuss how to model the Bitcoin network for experimental purposes. Finally, we present novel denialof-service attacks against the Bitcoin software, which exploit low-level implementation artifacts in the Bitcoin reference client. We demonstrate these attacks using our methodology, tools, and models.