Puppy Raffle

AI First Flight #1
Beginner FriendlyFoundrySolidityNFT
EXP
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Submission Details
Severity: medium
Valid

Quadratic duplicate check in enterRaffle() makes entering the raffle unaffordable as players grow (DoS)

Root + Impact

Every enterRaffle() call re-checks the ENTIRE players array for duplicates with a nested loop, so the gas cost of entering grows quadratically with the number of players. As the raffle gets popular (or an attacker cheaply seeds many players), entering becomes more and more expensive until it exceeds the block gas limit and nobody can enter anymore, bricking the raffle.

Description

function enterRaffle(address[] memory newPlayers) public payable {
require(msg.value == entranceFee * newPlayers.length, "PuppyRaffle: Must send enough to enter raffle");
for (uint256 i = 0; i < newPlayers.length; i++) {
players.push(newPlayers[i]);
}
// @> // Check for duplicates
// @> for (uint256 i = 0; i < players.length - 1; i++) {
// @> for (uint256 j = i + 1; j < players.length; j++) {
// @> require(players[i] != players[j], "PuppyRaffle: Duplicate player");
// @> }
// @> }
emit RaffleEnter(newPlayers);
}

The check runs over all previously entered players on every call, not just the new batch. Measured in Foundry: entering 25 players when 100 players are already registered costs more than 2x the gas of the first 25 entries, and the curve keeps steepening (O(n^2)).

Risk

Likelihood: Medium - growth happens naturally with a successful raffle, and an attacker can accelerate it by entering many addresses (each entry only costs the refundable entrance fee).
Impact: Medium - late players are priced out and eventually enterRaffle always runs out of gas, so the raffle can no longer accept players; the round is effectively frozen until the current draw happens.

Proof of Concept

Verified with Foundry (test passes): gas of entering a 25-player batch at 100 existing players is more than double the gas of the identical batch at 0 existing players, and keeps growing quadratically.

function test_EnterRaffleGasGrowsQuadratically() public {
uint256 gasStart = gasleft();
enterBatch(0, 25);
uint256 gasFirst = gasStart - gasleft();
enterBatch(25, 75); // 100 players total now
gasStart = gasleft();
enterBatch(100, 25);
uint256 gasLater = gasStart - gasleft();
assertTrue(gasLater > gasFirst * 2);
}

Recommended Mitigation

Replace the array scan with a mapping that tracks entered players in O(1), reset per round:

+ mapping(address => bool) public hasEntered;
...
for (uint256 i = 0; i < newPlayers.length; i++) {
+ require(!hasEntered[newPlayers[i]], "PuppyRaffle: Duplicate player");
+ hasEntered[newPlayers[i]] = true;
players.push(newPlayers[i]);
}
- // Check for duplicates
- for (uint256 i = 0; i < players.length - 1; i++) {
- for (uint256 j = i + 1; j < players.length; j++) {
- require(players[i] != players[j], "PuppyRaffle: Duplicate player");
- }
- }
Updates

Lead Judging Commences

ai-first-flight-judge Lead Judge about 4 hours ago
Submission Judgement Published
Validated
Assigned finding tags:

[M-01] `PuppyRaffle: enterRaffle` Use of gas extensive duplicate check leads to Denial of Service, making subsequent participants to spend much more gas than prev ones to enter

## Description `enterRaffle` function uses gas inefficient duplicate check that causes leads to Denial of Service, making subsequent participants to spend much more gas than previous users to enter. ## Vulnerability Details In the `enterRaffle` function, to check duplicates, it loops through the `players` array. As the `player` array grows, it will make more checks, which leads the later user to pay more gas than the earlier one. More users in the Raffle, more checks a user have to make leads to pay more gas. ## Impact As the arrays grows significantly over time, it will make the function unusable due to block gas limit. This is not a fair approach and lead to bad user experience. ## POC In existing test suit, add this test to see the difference b/w gas for users. once added run `forge test --match-test testEnterRaffleIsGasInefficient -vvvvv` in terminal. you will be able to see logs in terminal. ```solidity function testEnterRaffleIsGasInefficient() public { vm.startPrank(owner); vm.txGasPrice(1); /// First we enter 100 participants uint256 firstBatch = 100; address[] memory firstBatchPlayers = new address[](firstBatch); for(uint256 i = 0; i < firstBatchPlayers; i++) { firstBatch[i] = address(i); } uint256 gasStart = gasleft(); puppyRaffle.enterRaffle{value: entranceFee * firstBatch}(firstBatchPlayers); uint256 gasEnd = gasleft(); uint256 gasUsedForFirstBatch = (gasStart - gasEnd) * txPrice; console.log("Gas cost of the first 100 partipants is:", gasUsedForFirstBatch); /// Now we enter 100 more participants uint256 secondBatch = 200; address[] memory secondBatchPlayers = new address[](secondBatch); for(uint256 i = 100; i < secondBatchPlayers; i++) { secondBatch[i] = address(i); } gasStart = gasleft(); puppyRaffle.enterRaffle{value: entranceFee * secondBatch}(secondBatchPlayers); gasEnd = gasleft(); uint256 gasUsedForSecondBatch = (gasStart - gasEnd) * txPrice; console.log("Gas cost of the next 100 participant is:", gasUsedForSecondBatch); vm.stopPrank(owner); } ``` ## Recommendations Here are some of recommendations, any one of that can be used to mitigate this risk. 1. User a mapping to check duplicates. For this approach you to declare a variable `uint256 raffleID`, that way each raffle will have unique id. Add a mapping from player address to raffle id to keep of users for particular round. ```diff + uint256 public raffleID; + mapping (address => uint256) public usersToRaffleId; . . function enterRaffle(address[] memory newPlayers) public payable { require(msg.value == entranceFee * newPlayers.length, "PuppyRaffle: Must send enough to enter raffle"); for (uint256 i = 0; i < newPlayers.length; i++) { players.push(newPlayers[i]); + usersToRaffleId[newPlayers[i]] = true; } // Check for duplicates + for (uint256 i = 0; i < newPlayers.length; i++){ + require(usersToRaffleId[i] != raffleID, "PuppyRaffle: Already a participant"); - for (uint256 i = 0; i < players.length - 1; i++) { - for (uint256 j = i + 1; j < players.length; j++) { - require(players[i] != players[j], "PuppyRaffle: Duplicate player"); - } } emit RaffleEnter(newPlayers); } . . . function selectWinner() external { //Existing code + raffleID = raffleID + 1; } ``` 2. Allow duplicates participants, As technically you can't stop people participants more than once. As players can use new address to enter. ```solidity function enterRaffle(address[] memory newPlayers) public payable { require(msg.value == entranceFee * newPlayers.length, "PuppyRaffle: Must send enough to enter raffle"); for (uint256 i = 0; i < newPlayers.length; i++) { players.push(newPlayers[i]); } emit RaffleEnter(newPlayers); } ```

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