Snowman Merkle Airdrop

AI First Flight #10
Beginner FriendlyFoundrySolidityNFT
EXP
View results
Submission Details
Severity: medium
Valid

Dynamic usage of balanceOf in Merkle leaf calculation causes valid claims to revert if user balance changes

Dynamic use of balanceOf in Merkle verification causes Denial of Service

Description

  • Describe the normal behavior in one or more sentences

  • Explain the specific issue or problem in one or more sentences

function claimSnowman(address receiver, bytes32[] calldata merkleProof, uint8 v, bytes32 r, bytes32 s)
external
nonReentrant
{
// ... (checks) ...
// @> BUG: The contract uses the CURRENT real-time balance.
// Merkle Proofs are generated based on a past Snapshot.
// If the user's balance has changed (e.g. earned more tokens), this value will not match the proof.
uint256 amount = i_snow.balanceOf(receiver);
// @> BUG: The leaf hash changes dynamically with the balance, causing verify() to fail.
bytes32 leaf = keccak256(bytes.concat(keccak256(abi.encode(receiver, amount))));
if (!MerkleProof.verify(merkleProof, i_merkleRoot, leaf)) {
revert SA__InvalidProof();
}
// ...
}

Risk

Likelihood:

  • Since Snow tokens can be earned weekly or bought freely, it is very common for a user's balance to change.

Impact:

  • Legitimate users are unable to claim their airdrop if they interact with the token contract after the snapshot. To claim, they would be forced to manually adjust their token balance to match the exact snapshot amount, which creates significant friction and a potential Denial of Service if they don't know the snapshot amount.

Proof of Concept

The test demonstrates that if Alice increases her balance from 1 to 2 after the Merkle Proof is generated, she can no longer claim her NFT because the contract tries to verify a leaf containing "2" against a proof containing "1".

// Create test/SnowMerkleBug.t.sol
function testBalanceChangeBreaksMerkleProof() public {
// 1. Setup: Alice has 1 token. The Merkle Proof is generated for "1 token".
assert(snow.balanceOf(alice) == 1);
// 2. Alice interacts with the protocol (e.g., earning more Snow)
// This is normal user behavior.
vm.warp(block.timestamp + 1 weeks);
vm.prank(alice);
snow.earnSnow();
// 3. Alice now has 2 tokens.
assert(snow.balanceOf(alice) == 2);
// 4. Alice tries to claim her Airdrop using the valid proof for her original 1 token.
// Generate signature (needed for the call)
bytes32 digest = airdrop.getMessageHash(alice);
(uint8 v, bytes32 r, bytes32 s) = vm.sign(alKey, digest);
// 5. EXPECT REVERT:
// The contract calculates leaf = keccak(alice, 2).
// The proof expects leaf = keccak(alice, 1).
// Result: InvalidProof revert.
vm.prank(satoshi);
vm.expectRevert(SnowmanAirdrop.SA__InvalidProof.selector);
airdrop.claimSnowman(alice, AL_PROOF, v, r, s);
}

Recommended Mitigation

Do not read the balance dynamically. Instead, pass the amount as a parameter to the function (calldata) and verify it against the Merkle Root.

- function claimSnowman(address receiver, bytes32[] calldata merkleProof, uint8 v, bytes32 r, bytes32 s)
+ function claimSnowman(address receiver, uint256 amount, bytes32[] calldata merkleProof, uint8 v, bytes32 r, bytes32 s)
external
nonReentrant
{
// ...
- uint256 amount = i_snow.balanceOf(receiver);
+ // Check if user has enough tokens to fulfill the claimed amount
+ if (i_snow.balanceOf(receiver) < amount) {
+ revert SA__ZeroAmount();
+ }
bytes32 leaf = keccak256(bytes.concat(keccak256(abi.encode(receiver, amount))));
// ...
}
Updates

Lead Judging Commences

ai-first-flight-judge Lead Judge about 5 hours ago
Submission Judgement Published
Validated
Assigned finding tags:

[M-01] DoS to a user trying to claim a Snowman

# Root + Impact ## Description * Users will approve a specific amount of Snow to the SnowmanAirdrop and also sign a message with their address and that same amount, in order to be able to claim the NFT * Because the current amount of Snow owned by the user is used in the verification, an attacker could forcefully send Snow to the receiver in a front-running attack, to prevent the receiver from claiming the NFT.&#x20; ```Solidity function getMessageHash(address receiver) public view returns (bytes32) { ... // @audit HIGH An attacker could send 1 wei of Snow token to the receiver and invalidate the signature, causing the receiver to never be able to claim their Snowman uint256 amount = i_snow.balanceOf(receiver); return _hashTypedDataV4( keccak256(abi.encode(MESSAGE_TYPEHASH, SnowmanClaim({receiver: receiver, amount: amount}))) ); ``` ## Risk **Likelihood**: * The attacker must purchase Snow and forcefully send it to the receiver in a front-running attack, so the likelihood is Medium **Impact**: * The impact is High as it could lock out the receiver from claiming forever ## Proof of Concept The attack consists on Bob sending an extra Snow token to Alice before Satoshi claims the NFT on behalf of Alice. To showcase the risk, the extra Snow is earned for free by Bob. ```Solidity function testDoSClaimSnowman() public { assert(snow.balanceOf(alice) == 1); // Get alice's digest while the amount is still 1 bytes32 alDigest = airdrop.getMessageHash(alice); // alice signs a message (uint8 alV, bytes32 alR, bytes32 alS) = vm.sign(alKey, alDigest); vm.startPrank(bob); vm.warp(block.timestamp + 1 weeks); snow.earnSnow(); assert(snow.balanceOf(bob) == 2); snow.transfer(alice, 1); // Alice claim test assert(snow.balanceOf(alice) == 2); vm.startPrank(alice); snow.approve(address(airdrop), 1); // satoshi calls claims on behalf of alice using her signed message vm.startPrank(satoshi); vm.expectRevert(); airdrop.claimSnowman(alice, AL_PROOF, alV, alR, alS); } ``` ## Recommended Mitigation Include the amount to be claimed in both `getMessageHash` and `claimSnowman` instead of reading it from the Snow contract. Showing only the new code in the section below ```Python function claimSnowman(address receiver, uint256 amount, bytes32[] calldata merkleProof, uint8 v, bytes32 r, bytes32 s) external nonReentrant { ... bytes32 leaf = keccak256(bytes.concat(keccak256(abi.encode(receiver, amount)))); if (!MerkleProof.verify(merkleProof, i_merkleRoot, leaf)) { revert SA__InvalidProof(); } // @audit LOW Seems like using the ERC20 permit here would allow for both the delegation of the claim and the transfer of the Snow tokens in one transaction i_snow.safeTransferFrom(receiver, address(this), amount); // send ... } ```

Support

FAQs

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

Give us feedback!