---
title: "Soundness parameters weaker than assumed"
description: "Configuration yields materially fewer bits of security than the team believes — commonly through FRI parameters chosen against conjectured rather than…"
type: "failure-mode"
url: "https://zkpick.com/audit/failure-modes/soundness-parameters-weaker-than-assumed/"
section: "03 Auditing a ZK protocol"
authors:
  - "MarketComp"
publisher: "MarketComp"
version: "1.3"
updated: "2026-09-12"
license: "CC-BY-4.0"
json: "https://zkpick.com/data/audit/failure-modes/soundness-parameters-weaker-than-assumed.json"
---

*By MarketComp. Updated 2026-09-12. Version 1.3. CC BY 4.0.*

# Soundness parameters weaker than assumed

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.