A Pattern-Oriented Ontology and Workflow Modeling Approach for the Sui Move Programming Language

Abstract

Smart contracts are vulnerable to critical, design-level Business Logic Flaws (BLFs) that conventional analysis tools often fail to detect. To address this semantic gap, this study introduces a novel ontological framework that formally models the link between high-level architectural intent and low-level Sui Move code. The methodology employs a rigorous Linked Open Terms (LOT) approach to construct a comprehensive ontology, integrated with a library of secure design patterns and process-aware Object-Centric Dynamic Condition Response (OC-DCR) graphs. Qualitative validation was conducted on four canonical security patterns (Access Control, Circuit Breaker, Time Incentivization, Escapability) drawn from the official Sui Framework, confirming the framework’s representational adequacy and logical consistency. Ultimately, this work contributes the first machine-readable semantic layer for Sui Move, decoupling reasoning from raw code availability, and providing the essential semantic foundation for the future development of pattern-aware auditing tools.