Traveling so close to the Black Forest is always a risky choice, but you have business to attend to at the local chapter house. When you arrive you are met with the sight of a  young girl of the Maagiri, a clan of shapeshifters, she looks distressed and in need of help…

There is a common misconception that once bytecode is deployed onto an address, it is immutable. Learn how this assumption can be challenged.

Changing an Address' Bytecode

Eventually, you lose count of the number of attempts you have made to fix Alecia. But finally, when you’ve nearly given up, you land on the correct solution. This time, when Alecia closes her eyes and concentrates, her skin begins to glow a rich sapphire blue. Before your very eyes, her body begins to melt. 

At first, you are alarmed as the woman before you sinks into a shapeless ooze. Then she reshapes her anatomy before your eyes. She forms limbs, which slowly morph into tentacles, then dangerous barbed blades before she retakes her human form.

Relieved beyond measure that she can once again rejoin her people, Alecia thanks you profusely for your help. But truth be told, all you gave was a little encouragement. The problem had been little more than a mental block brought on by her infatuation with her human lover. There was never a moment the Maagirus had actually lost her genetic gifts.

But gratitude is gratitude, and you’re not going to turn down her reward…

The Black Forest is home to many strange species. Some are friendly, while many more are decidedly unfriendly. But only a very few possess the elusive ability to shapeshift. The best known of these are the Maagiri, a clan of beings with the ability to take on any number of forms at will. 

Visiting the Chapterhouse near the forest, you come across a Maagirus named Alecia. She has come out of the forest to ask the guardians for help. A few weeks ago, she met and fell in love with a human man. But in doing so, she has found herself unable to shift out of human form. Now her clan has cast her out.

Please, help me. They say the Guardians know magics no one else does. Can you help me return to my people?&nbsp;

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Find a way to help Alecia regain her abilities and return to her clan? 

There is a common misconception that once a contract has been deployed onto an address, its bytecode can no longer mutate. This is generally true until we consider the possibility of contracts that <code class="richtext rt-inlinecode">selfdestruct</code>.

To recap, we can create mutable bytecode by: 

This seems like an odd use case. But it proves that a malicious attacker can deploy a seemingly trustworthy contract to have unknowing users deposit their assets into it. Assuming the contract has self-destructing capabilities, the attacker can destroy the contract and redeploy a new one to steal these assets.

In general, self-destructing contracts are inherently dangerous. We should not assume that these addresses will permanently remain ‘destroyed’ after.

Contracts that contain a <code class="richtext rt-inlinecode">SELFDESTRUCT</code>, <code class="richtext rt-inlinecode">DELEGATECALL</code>, or <code class="richtext rt-inlinecode">CALLCODE</code> opcode all are potentially self-destructive.

Changing Bytecode

Upgradeable proxies are generally more prone to implementation bugs and security vulnerabilities. Hence, it is important to be aware of certain common mistakes.

Proxy Security

Some contracts use extcodesize() as a method to discern smart contracts from externally owned accounts. However, this should not be mistaken as a foolproof approach. Figure out how extcodesize() can be cleverly bypassed.

Bypassing extcodesize()

There is a common misconception that a contract can only receive funds via receive() or payable functions.

Learn how this assumption is challenged, and the dangers of the overreliance of address.balance().