[2605.21498] Chain Reactions: How Nonce Collisions in ECDSA Compromise Polygon MEV Searchers
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Computer Science > Cryptography and Security
arXiv:2605.21498 (cs)
[Submitted on 3 May 2026]
Title:Chain Reactions: How Nonce Collisions in ECDSA Compromise Polygon MEV Searchers
Authors:Yash Madhwal, Andrey Seoev, Raffaele Della Pietra, Anastasiia Smirnova, Yury Yanovich<br>View a PDF of the paper titled Chain Reactions: How Nonce Collisions in ECDSA Compromise Polygon MEV Searchers, by Yash Madhwal and 4 other authors
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Abstract:ECDSA signatures form the bedrock of blockchain transaction authentication, yet their security critically depends on proper nonce generation. We uncover a critical vulnerability in the Polygon MEV ecosystem: systematic nonce reuse that enables complete private key recovery. Analyzing on-chain data reveals that searchers, driven by the need for sub-second response times in sealed-bid auctions, employ predictable nonce patterns. These patterns create linear relationships between signatures, allowing passive attackers to recover private keys using elementary algebra. We provide a compact linear-system formulation for such attacks, including the dangerous case of cross-wallet nonce collisions, and present concrete evidence of exploitable patterns on Polygon. Our findings demonstrate how protocol-induced latency pressures can lead to catastrophic cryptographic failures in production blockchain systems, where a single implementation error compromises multiple accounts simultaneously.
Subjects:
Cryptography and Security (cs.CR)
Cite as:<br>arXiv:2605.21498 [cs.CR]
(or<br>arXiv:2605.21498v1 [cs.CR] for this version)
https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2605.21498
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arXiv-issued DOI via DataCite
Submission history<br>From: Yury Yanovich [view email]<br>[v1]<br>Sun, 3 May 2026 18:29:35 UTC (73 KB)
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