04 — Trusted setup · Failure mode

Circuit changes after the ceremony

An audit finding, a feature request or a bug fix changes the constraint system after a circuit-specific setup has completed, invalidating the parameters. Under schedule pressure the change ships against stale parameters, or the ceremony is repeated in a rush with whoever is available.

By MarketComp Updated 2026-09-12 v1.3 About the authors Changelog

Mitigation

Freeze the circuit and complete the audit before the circuit-specific phase. If a change is unavoidable, repeat the phase properly and treat the timeline slip as the cost of the design choice — or move to a universal setup so this class of event stops being fatal.

Cite this page

MarketComp (2026). Circuit changes after the ceremony. The ZK Field Manual (Version 1.3). MarketComp. https://zkpick.com/ceremony/failure-modes/circuit-changes-after-the-ceremony/

@misc{zkfieldmanual-circuit-changes-after-the-ceremony,
  title        = {Circuit changes after the ceremony — The ZK Field Manual},
  author       = {MarketComp},
  year         = {2026},
  version      = {1.3},
  howpublished = {\url{https://zkpick.com/ceremony/failure-modes/circuit-changes-after-the-ceremony/}},
  note         = {Accessed: YYYY-MM-DD}
}