Variant Analysis Skill

Variant analysis is the process of abstracting a discovered vulnerability into a root-cause pattern and systematically searching the entire codebase to identify all matching instances. It ensures comprehensive coverage by validating and expanding findings to related cross-contract patterns.

The best way to identify root-cause variants is to abstract a discovered vulnerability into a root-cause pattern and execute a multi-step variant hunt across the codebase. This systematically validates and expands findings to related patterns for full cross-contract coverage.

Yes, variant analysis is explicitly designed for competitive audit workflows like Code4rena or Sherlock. It drives comprehensive variant searches across contracts and modules, expanding findings to related patterns to maximize finding counts and reduce blind spots.

To start a variant hunt across your codebase, you need an initial documented finding. You then abstract this finding to a root-cause pattern and run a multi-step variant hunt to enumerate, validate, and expand all related code instances.

Audits miss related vulnerabilities when findings are not abstracted to root-cause patterns. By systematically hunting for variants and expanding findings to related cross-contract patterns, you reduce blind spots and ensure all instances of the same root-cause are identified.