Can a Successful Collision Attack Be Used to Facilitate a Financial Double-Spending Scenario?
Yes, in certain contexts. If an attacker can find two different transactions, T1 and T2, that result in the same transaction hash H(T1) = H(T2), they could attempt a double-spend.
The attacker could broadcast T1 to one part of the network and T2 to another. If the receiving party accepts the transaction based only on the hash, and the transactions have different destinations, the attacker may succeed in spending the same funds twice before the conflict is resolved by the blockchain consensus.
Glossar
Spending the Same Funds
Attempt ⎊ Spending the same funds, commonly known as a double-spend attack, involves an attempt by a malicious actor to use the same cryptocurrency units in two separate transactions.
Longest Chain Rule
Consensus Rule ⎊ Longest Chain Rule is the fundamental protocol mechanism dictating that in the event of a temporary fork, the chain exhibiting the greatest cumulative proof of work or stake is recognized as the canonical and valid history, thus finalizing transactions.
Collision Attack
Vulnerability ⎊ A specific type of cryptographic flaw occurs when two distinct inputs produce the same output from a mathematical function.