closePot() causes permanent DoS and fund lock when many users claimDescription: The closePot() function iterates through the entire claimants array to distribute remaining rewards after the 90-day period. Since the claimants array grows unbounded with every successful claimCut() call, this loop can exceed the blockchain's block gas limit, making closePot() permanently uncallable and locking all remaining funds forever.
Impact:
CRITICAL severity - Protocol becomes permanently unusable
Manager cannot collect their 10% cut
Claimants cannot receive final distribution
All remainingRewards permanently stuck in contract
No emergency recovery mechanism exists
Proof of Concept:
Gas analysis from testing:
2 claimants: 2,730 gas
3 claimants: 20,862 gas
Rate: ~18,000 gas per claimant
Calculation:
Test results:
Recommended Mitigation:
Implement pull-over-push pattern where users withdraw their distribution instead of contract pushing to all addresses in a single transaction:
## Description The `Pot.sol` contract contains a vulnerability that can lead to a Denial of Service (DoS) attack. This issue arises from the inefficient handling of claimants in the `closePot` function, where iterating over a large number of claimants can cause the transaction to run out of gas, thereby preventing the contract from executing as intended. ## Vulnerability Details Affected code - <https://github.com/Cyfrin/2024-08-MyCut/blob/946231db0fe717039429a11706717be568d03b54/src/Pot.sol#L58> The vulnerability is located in the `closePot` function of the Pot contract, specifically at the loop iterating over the claimants array: ```javascript function closePot() external onlyOwner { ... if (remainingRewards > 0) { ... @> for (uint256 i = 0; i < claimants.length; i++) { _transferReward(claimants[i], claimantCut); } } } ``` The `closePot` function is designed to distribute remaining rewards to claimants after a contest ends. However, if the number of claimants is extremly large, the loop iterating over the claimants array can consume a significant amount of gas. This can lead to a situation where the transaction exceeds the gas limit and fails, effectively making it impossible to close the pot and distribute the rewards. ## Exploit 1. Attacker initiates a big contest with a lot of players 2. People claim the cut 3. Owner closes the large pot that will be very costly ```javascript function testGasCostForClosingPotWithManyClaimants() public mintAndApproveTokens { // Generate 2000 players address[] memory players2000 = new address[](2000); uint256[] memory rewards2000 = new uint256[](2000); for (uint256 i = 0; i < 2000; i++) { players2000[i] = address(uint160(i + 1)); rewards2000[i] = 1 ether; } // Create a contest with 2000 players vm.startPrank(user); contest = ContestManager(conMan).createContest(players2000, rewards2000, IERC20(ERC20Mock(weth)), 2000 ether); ContestManager(conMan).fundContest(0); vm.stopPrank(); // Allow 1500 players to claim their cut for (uint256 i = 0; i < 1500; i++) { vm.startPrank(players2000[i]); Pot(contest).claimCut(); vm.stopPrank(); } // Fast forward time to allow closing the pot vm.warp(91 days); // Record gas usage for closing the pot vm.startPrank(user); uint256 gasBeforeClose = gasleft(); ContestManager(conMan).closeContest(contest); uint256 gasUsedClose = gasBeforeClose - gasleft(); vm.stopPrank(); console.log("Gas used for closing pot with 1500 claimants:", gasUsedClose); } ``` ```Solidity Gas used for closing pot with 1500 claimants: 6425853 ``` ## Impact The primary impact of this vulnerability is a Denial of Service (DoS) attack vector. An attacker (or even normal usage with a large number of claimants) can cause the `closePot` function to fail due to excessive gas consumption. This prevents the distribution of remaining rewards and the execution of any subsequent logic in the function, potentially locking funds in the contract indefinitely. In the case of smaller pots it would be a gas inefficency to itterate over the state variabel `claimants`. ## Recommendations Gas Optimization: Optimize the loop to reduce gas consumption by using a local variable to itterate over, like in the following example: ```diff - for (uint256 i = 0; i < claimants.length; i++) { - _transferReward(claimants[i], claimantCut); - } + uint256 claimants_length = claimants.length; + ... + for (uint256 i = 0; i < claimants_length; i++) { + _transferReward(claimants[i], claimantCut); + } ``` Batch Processing: Implement batch processing for distributing rewards. This will redesign the protocol functionallity but instead of processing all claimants in a single transaction, allow the function to process a subset of claimants per transaction. This can be achieved by introducing pagination or limiting the number of claimants processed in one call. This could also be fixed if the user would claim their reward after 90 days themselves
The contest is live. Earn rewards by submitting a finding.
Submissions are being reviewed by our AI judge. Results will be available in a few minutes.
View all submissionsThe contest is complete and the rewards are being distributed.