Snowman Merkle Airdrop

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

Snowman::mintSnowman has no access control, letting anyone mint unlimited Snowman NFTs for free

Description

Snowman NFTs are meant to be minted only through SnowmanAirdrop::claimSnowman, which requires staked Snow, a valid EIP-712 signature, and a Merkle proof. Snowman::mintSnowman is external with no access control, so anyone can call it directly and mint unlimited NFTs to any address, skipping every check. The contract imports Ownable and declares an unused SM__NotAllowed() error, so the guard was intended but omitted.

// src/Snowman.sol
function mintSnowman(address receiver, uint256 amount) external {
@> // no onlyOwner / onlyAirdrop guard: any caller mints with no stake, signature, or proof
for (uint256 i = 0; i < amount; i++) {
_safeMint(receiver, s_TokenCounter);
...
}
}

Risk

Likelihood: mintSnowman is the protocol's only mint path and is callable by any account at any time, needing nothing but gas (no Snow, approval, signature, or proof).

Impact: Anyone mints unlimited Snowman NFTs for free, bypassing the staking and Merkle airdrop and destroying the value of the collection, including the NFTs that legitimate stakers burned Snow to earn.


Proof of Concept

import {Test} from "forge-std/Test.sol";
import {Snowman} from "../src/Snowman.sol";
contract ExploitUnprotectedMint is Test {
function testAnyoneCanMintSnowmanForFree() public {
Snowman nft = new Snowman("uri");
address attacker = makeAddr("attacker"); // not the airdrop, holds no Snow, not in the tree
vm.prank(attacker);
nft.mintSnowman(attacker, 1000); // no stake, no signature, no proof required
assertEq(nft.balanceOf(attacker), 1000); // 1000 NFTs minted for free
assertEq(nft.ownerOf(0), attacker);
}
}

Result: [PASS] testAnyoneCanMintSnowmanForFree().

Recommended Mitigation

Restrict mintSnowman so that only the SnowmanAirdrop contract can mint. Store the airdrop address in Snowman as an immutable set in the constructor, and add an onlyAirdrop modifier that reverts for any other caller. A plain onlyOwner is not sufficient because, as deployed, the airdrop is not the Snowman owner (see L-04), so the mint must be gated to the airdrop address specifically. With this in place, the only path to a Snowman NFT is claimSnowman, which enforces the Snow stake, the EIP-712 signature, and the Merkle proof.

+ error SM__NotAllowed();
+ address private immutable i_airdrop;
- constructor(string memory _SnowmanSvgUri) ERC721("Snowman Airdrop", "SNOWMAN") Ownable(msg.sender) {
+ constructor(string memory _SnowmanSvgUri, address _airdrop) ERC721("Snowman Airdrop", "SNOWMAN") Ownable(msg.sender) {
s_TokenCounter = 0;
s_SnowmanSvgUri = _SnowmanSvgUri;
+ i_airdrop = _airdrop;
}
+ modifier onlyAirdrop() {
+ if (msg.sender != i_airdrop) revert SM__NotAllowed();
+ _;
+ }
- function mintSnowman(address receiver, uint256 amount) external {
+ function mintSnowman(address receiver, uint256 amount) external onlyAirdrop {
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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