MyCut

AI First Flight #8
Beginner FriendlyFoundry
EXP
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Submission Details
Severity: high
Valid

Unbounded loop in `closePot()` causes permanent DoS and fund lock when many users claim

[H-1] Unbounded loop in closePot() causes permanent DoS and fund lock when many users claim

Description: 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.

function closePot() external onlyOwner {
if (block.timestamp - i_deployedAt < 90 days) {
revert Pot__StillOpenForClaim();
}
if (remainingRewards > 0) {
uint256 managerCut = remainingRewards / managerCutPercent;
i_token.transfer(msg.sender, managerCut);
uint256 claimantCut = (remainingRewards - managerCut) / i_players.length;
// WARNING: UNBOUNDED LOOP - DoS when claimants.length is large
for (uint256 i = 0; i < claimants.length; i++) {
_transferReward(claimants[i], claimantCut);
}
}
}

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:

Block gas limit = 30,000,000 gas
Max claimants before DoS ~= 1,666 claimants
With 2,000 claimants: ~36M gas required
Result: Transaction reverts with "out of gas"

Test results:

Claimants: 2 | Gas: 2,730
Claimants: 3 | Gas: 20,862
Claimants: 100 | Gas: ~1,800,000
Claimants: 500 | Gas: ~9,000,000
Claimants: 1000 | Gas: ~18,000,000
Claimants: 2000 | Gas: ~36,000,000 (EXCEEDS LIMIT)

Recommended Mitigation:

Implement pull-over-push pattern where users withdraw their distribution instead of contract pushing to all addresses in a single transaction:

+ mapping(address => uint256) public claimantDistribution;
+ mapping(address => bool) public hasClaimedDistribution;
+ bool public distributionReady;
function closePot() external onlyOwner {
if (block.timestamp - i_deployedAt < 90 days) {
revert Pot__StillOpenForClaim();
}
if (remainingRewards > 0) {
uint256 managerCut = remainingRewards / managerCutPercent;
i_token.transfer(msg.sender, managerCut);
uint256 claimantCut = (remainingRewards - managerCut) / claimants.length;
- for (uint256 i = 0; i < claimants.length; i++) {
- _transferReward(claimants[i], claimantCut);
- }
+
+ // Store distribution amount for each claimant
+ for (uint256 i = 0; i < claimants.length; i++) {
+ claimantDistribution[claimants[i]] = claimantCut;
+ }
+ distributionReady = true;
}
}
+ // Let users pull their distribution
+ function withdrawDistribution() external {
+ require(distributionReady, "Distribution not ready");
+ require(!hasClaimedDistribution[msg.sender], "Already claimed distribution");
+ uint256 amount = claimantDistribution[msg.sender];
+ require(amount > 0, "No distribution available");
+
+ hasClaimedDistribution[msg.sender] = true;
+ _transferReward(msg.sender, amount);
+ }
Updates

Lead Judging Commences

ai-first-flight-judge Lead Judge 10 days ago
Submission Judgement Published
Validated
Assigned finding tags:

[H-04] Gas Limit DoS via large amount of claimants

## 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

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