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Submission Details
Severity: low
Valid

Missing Session End Validation Permits Premature Fund Distribution and Contract Upgrades

eightysix

Summary
A critical vulnerability allows the principal to prematurely distribute funds and upgrade the contract before the academic session concludes, violating the protocol's requirement that upgrades occur only after the session officially ends.

Vulnerability Details
The graduateAndUpgrade function lacks validation against the session end time (sessionEnd), enabling execution while:

  • The session is still active (inSession == true).

  • Student reviews may still be ongoing.

  • Final scores are not yet finalized.

Affected Code:

function graduateAndUpgrade(address _levelTwo, bytes memory) public onlyPrincipal {
// Missing check: require(block.timestamp >= sessionEnd, "Session ongoing");
// ... rest of logic ...
}

Risk:
Even though restricted to the principal, the function can be mistakenly or intentionally called before the session ends, bypassing critical timing safeguards.

Impact

  • Premature Fund Distribution: Teachers and the principal can withdraw bursary funds before the session concludes.

  • Invalid Graduations: Students may graduate without completing mandatory reviews or achieving finalized scores.

  • Protocol Instability: Upgrades during an active session could disrupt ongoing operations.

Tools Used

  • Manual code analysis.

Recommendations
Add a time validation check to enforce upgrades only after the session ends:

function graduateAndUpgrade(address _levelTwo, bytes memory) public onlyPrincipal {
require(block.timestamp >= sessionEnd, "Session not ended");
// ... rest of logic ...
}
Updates

Lead Judging Commences

yeahchibyke Lead Judge 20 days ago
Submission Judgement Published
Validated
Assigned finding tags:

can graduate without session end

`graduateAndUpgrade()` can be called successfully even when the school session has not ended

yeahchibyke Lead Judge 20 days ago
Submission Judgement Published
Validated
Assigned finding tags:

can graduate without session end

`graduateAndUpgrade()` can be called successfully even when the school session has not ended

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