MyCut

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

Gas Limit DoS via Large Number of Claimants in `closePot()`

Description

The closePot() function iterates over the entire claimants array to distribute remaining rewards. If the number of claimants is very large, this loop consumes excessive gas, potentially exceeding the block gas limit and making closePot() impossible to execute.

// src/Pot.sol:58-60
for (uint256 i = 0; i < claimants.length; i++) {
_transferReward(claimants[i], claimantCut);
}

Each iteration performs an external ERC20 transfer (i_token.transfer), consuming ~20,000+ gas per claimant. With thousands of claimants, the total gas exceeds reasonable block limits.

Risk

Likelihood:

  • Any contest with a large number of players who claim before closePot is called

  • An attacker can intentionally create a contest with many participants to trigger this

Impact:

  • closePot() becomes unexecutable — the pot can never be closed

  • Remaining rewards (including manager cut) are permanently locked in the Pot contract

  • Protocol funds are frozen indefinitely

Validated Gas Usage:

  • 1500 claimants: ~6,425,853 gas — already very expensive

  • More claimants could exceed block gas limit entirely

Proof of Concept

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;
}
vm.startPrank(user);
contest = ContestManager(conMan).createContest(players2000, rewards2000, IERC20(ERC20Mock(weth)), 2000 ether);
ContestManager(conMan).fundContest(0);
vm.stopPrank();
// 1500 players claim their cut
for (uint256 i = 0; i < 1500; i++) {
vm.prank(players2000[i]);
Pot(contest).claimCut();
}
vm.warp(91 days);
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);
// ~6,400,000 gas
}

Run with:

forge test --match-test testGasCostForClosingPotWithManyClaimants -vv

Recommended Mitigation

  1. Gas optimization — cache array length in a local variable:

- for (uint256 i = 0; i < claimants.length; i++) {
+ uint256 claimantsLength = claimants.length;
+ for (uint256 i = 0; i < claimantsLength; i++) {
  1. Pull-over-push pattern — let claimants claim their own share after 90 days instead of pushing to all in one transaction. This fundamentally redesigns the distribution to avoid O(n) gas costs.

Updates

Lead Judging Commences

ai-first-flight-judge Lead Judge about 5 hours 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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