Snowman Merkle Airdrop

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

Public mint function lets anyone mint Snowman NFTs without airdrop authorization


Root + Impact

Description

The normal intended flow is that users receive Snowman NFTs through `SnowmanAirdrop.claimSnowman()`. That function checks the receiver, Snow balance, EIP-712 signature, Merkle proof, and transfers Snow tokens before minting the NFT.

However, `Snowman.mintSnowman()` is externally callable and has no access control. Any arbitrary address can call it directly and mint Snowman NFTs without going through the airdrop contract.

Root cause:

function mintSnowman(address receiver, uint256 amount) external {
for (uint256 i = 0; i < amount; i++) {
_safeMint(receiver, s_TokenCounter);
s_TokenCounter++;
}
}

The function has no onlyOwner, no airdrop-only modifier, no minter role, and no msg.sender check.

This bypasses the intended protected flow in SnowmanAirdrop.claimSnowman(), which otherwise performs Merkle proof validation, signature validation, Snow balance checks, and Snow token transfer before calling mintSnowman().

Risk

HIGH

Likelihood:

Any address can directly call Snowman.mintSnowman(receiver, amount) because the function is external and unrestricted.

No Snow tokens, approval, Merkle proof, signature, or airdrop interaction are required.

  • No Snow tokens, approval, Merkle proof, signature, or airdrop interaction are required.

Impact:

High.

An attacker can mint Snowman NFTs for free and without authorization.

This breaks the core airdrop/staking mechanism because NFTs are supposed to be minted only after the receiver passes the airdrop checks and transfers Snow tokens.

Impact includes:

  • unauthorized NFT minting


bypass of Merkle eligibility

  • bypass of EIP-712 signature authorization

  • bypass of Snow token ownership and transfer requirement

  • dilution of legitimate Snowman NFT holders

  • complete bypass of the intended claim flow

Proof of Concept

Add the following targeted test to test/TestSnowman.t.sol:

function testAnyoneCanMintSnowmanWithoutAirdropAuthorization() public {
address attacker = makeAddr("attacker");
assertEq(nft.balanceOf(attacker), 0);
vm.prank(attacker);
nft.mintSnowman(attacker, 1);
assertEq(nft.balanceOf(attacker), 1);
assertEq(nft.ownerOf(0), attacker);
}

Run only this test:

forge test --match-path test/TestSnowman.t.sol --match-test testAnyoneCanMintSnowmanWithoutAirdropAuthorization -vvv

Test result:

Ran 1 test for test/TestSnowman.t.sol:TestSnowman
[PASS] testAnyoneCanMintSnowmanWithoutAirdropAuthorization() (gas: 102447)
Suite result: ok. 1 passed; 0 failed; 0 skipped

Recommended Mitigation

Restrict Snowman.mintSnowman() so only the authorized airdrop contract or an authorized minter can call it.

Alternatively, use an owner-controlled minter role and assign only the SnowmanAirdrop contract as the allowed minter.

+ error SM__NotAllowed();
+ address public immutable i_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 {
for (uint256 i = 0; i < amount; i++) {
_safeMint(receiver, s_TokenCounter);
s_TokenCounter++;
}
}
Updates

Lead Judging Commences

ai-first-flight-judge Lead Judge 8 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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