Company Simulator
First Flight #51
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Submission Details
Impact: high
Likelihood: high
Invalid

vulnerabity and solutions

trlokhande_b24

Vulnerability: Centralized Owner Privileges in Core Company Functions

Description

The Cyfrin_Hub.vy contract grants exclusive control of critical operations—such as production, share cap increases, and debt repayment—to the owner address.
This introduces a single point of failure: if the owner’s private key is compromised or the owner acts maliciously, they can unilaterally:

  • Inflate the share cap to dilute investors,

  • Manipulate production or pricing,

  • Drain or freeze company funds,

  • Undermine reputation or customer operations.

This design creates centralization and privilege escalation risks in what is meant to be a decentralized company simulation.

Risk

Severity: 🔴 High / Critical
Impact:

  • Economic: Unauthorized minting or fund withdrawal.

  • Governance: Owner can alter supply and reputation arbitrarily.

  • Availability: Owner key loss or compromise halts the system.

Likelihood: Moderate — as owner functions are public-facing and often targeted in phishing or replay attacks.

Proof of Concept

Below is a simplified Vyper excerpt demonstrating the issue:

@external
def increase_share_cap(new_cap: uint256):
# Only owner can modify share supply
assert msg.sender == self.owner
self.share_cap = new_cap
​
@external
def produce_item(item_id: uint256, qty: uint256):
# Only owner can produce inventory
assert msg.sender == self.owner
self.inventory[item_id] += qty
​

An attacker who obtains the owner’s private key can:

  1. Call increase_share_cap(10**18) to mint unlimited shares.

  2. Manipulate produce_item() to flood inventory or mint fake goods.

  3. Sell inflated shares or drain company revenue.

This can fully compromise all investor and customer assets.

Recommended Mitigation

Implement multi-signature authorization or a timelock controller to decentralize control over sensitive operations.

✅ Safe Mitigation (Multisig + Timelock Pattern)

multisig: public(address)
timelock_expires: public(uint256)
pending_cap: public(uint256)
​
@external
def propose_share_cap(new_cap: uint256):
# Proposal must come from multisig wallet
assert msg.sender == self.multisig
self.pending_cap = new_cap
self.timelock_expires = block.timestamp + 2 * 86400 # 2 days delay
​
@external
def execute_share_cap():
assert msg.sender == self.multisig
assert block.timestamp >= self.timelock_expires
self.share_cap = self.pending_cap
self.pending_cap = 0
self.timelock_expires = 0
​

Additional Recommendations:

  • Use a Gnosis Safe or multi-party governance wallet as multisig.

  • Add an emergency pause for production functions using a boolean paused flag.

  • Include event logs for every state change to improve on-chain auditability.

Summary

Category

Detail

Title

Centralized Owner Privileges in Core Company Functions

Severity

High / Critical

Impact

Total control over shares, funds, and production

Likelihood

Medium

Recommendation

Replace single-owner logic with multisig + timelock governance

Updates

Lead Judging Commences

0xshaedyw Lead Judge
5 days ago
0xshaedyw Lead Judge 3 days ago
Submission Judgement Published
Invalidated
Reason: Known issue

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