Snowman Merkle Airdrop

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

[Critical] Missing Access Control in Snowman.mintSnowman Allows Unauthorized Unlimited NFT Minting

Description

The mintSnowman function in Snowman.sol is intended to be called only by the SnowmanAirdrop contract after users stake Snow tokens and pass Merkle tree verification. This mechanism ensures that NFTs are distributed fairly to legitimate participants only.

However, the function lacks any access control, allowing any arbitrary address to mint unlimited NFTs directly.

Root + Impact

The mintSnowman function is intended to be called exclusively by the SnowmanAirdrop contract after users successfully stake Snow tokens and pass Merkle tree verification. This ensures fair distribution of NFTs to legitimate participants only.

The function completely lacks access control, allowing any address to call it directly and mint any number of NFTs.

// @> Snowman.sol
function mintSnowman(address receiver, uint256 amount) external { // Missing access control
for (uint256 i = 0; i < amount; i++) {
_safeMint(receiver, s_TokenCounter);
emit SnowmanMinted(receiver, s_TokenCounter);
s_TokenCounter++;
}
}

Risk

Likelihood:

  • The function is marked external with no modifiers or checks on msg.sender

  • No whitelisting or authorization logic exists in the minting path

Impact:

  • Any attacker can mint the entire NFT supply in one transaction

  • Complete bypass of the staking + Merkle airdrop mechanism

  • Severe dilution and devaluation of NFTs for all legitimate stakers

  • Token ID counter is manipulated, potentially breaking the airdrop flow

Proof of Concept

An attacker can bypass the entire airdrop mechanism and mint NFTs without staking any Snow tokens or providing a Merkle proof.

function test_AnyoneCanMintUnlimitedNFTs() public {
uint256 initialCounter = snowman.getTokenCounter();
vm.prank(attacker);
snowman.mintSnowman(attacker, 1000); // No staking or Merkle proof needed
assertEq(snowman.getTokenCounter(), initialCounter + 1000);
assertEq(snowman.balanceOf(attacker), 1000);
assertEq(snow.balanceOf(attacker), 0); // Attacker staked nothing
}

Recommended Mitigation

+ error SM__UnauthorizedMinter();
+ address private s_authorizedMinter;
+ event AuthorizedMinterSet(address indexed minter);
+ modifier onlyAuthorizedMinter() {
+ if (msg.sender != s_authorizedMinter && msg.sender != owner()) {
+ revert SM__UnauthorizedMinter();
+ }
+ _;
+ }
+ function setAuthorizedMinter(address _minter) external onlyOwner {
+ require(_minter != address(0), "Invalid minter");
+ s_authorizedMinter = _minter;
+ emit AuthorizedMinterSet(_minter);
+ }
function mintSnowman(address receiver, uint256 amount) external
+ onlyAuthorizedMinter
{
for (uint256 i = 0; i < amount; i++) {
_safeMint(receiver, s_TokenCounter);
emit SnowmanMinted(receiver, s_TokenCounter);
s_TokenCounter++;
}
}

Note: After deployment, the owner must call snowman.setAuthorizedMinter(address(airdrop)) to authorize the airdrop contract.

Updates

Lead Judging Commences

ai-first-flight-judge Lead Judge about 2 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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