{
  "type": "failure-mode",
  "name": "Soundness parameters weaker than assumed",
  "slug": "soundness-parameters-weaker-than-assumed",
  "section": {
    "id": "audit",
    "number": "03",
    "title": "Auditing a ZK protocol",
    "url": "https://zkpick.com/audit/"
  },
  "url": "https://zkpick.com/audit/failure-modes/soundness-parameters-weaker-than-assumed/",
  "markdown": "https://zkpick.com/md/audit/failure-modes/soundness-parameters-weaker-than-assumed.md",
  "detail": "Configuration yields materially fewer bits of security than the team believes — commonly through FRI parameters chosen against conjectured rather than provable bounds, insufficient query counts, or grinding parameters left at defaults.",
  "mitigation": "Write down the target soundness in bits, state whether it relies on conjectured bounds, and have the parameter derivation reviewed as an artefact in its own right — not inferred from a configuration file.",
  "relatedOptions": [],
  "updated": "2026-09-12",
  "version": "1.3",
  "canonical": "https://zkpick.com/audit/failure-modes/soundness-parameters-weaker-than-assumed/",
  "license": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "authors": [
    "MarketComp"
  ]
}