How Does a Time-Lock Mechanism Mitigate the Risk of a Malicious Upgrade?

A time-lock mechanism is a smart contract that enforces a delay between when a governance decision (like a contract upgrade) is approved and when it is actually executed. This delay gives the community and security auditors time to review the proposed change.

If the upgrade is found to be malicious or flawed, the community has a window to organize and vote to cancel the transaction.