CVE-2018-11329 in Ether Cartel
Summary
by MITRE
The DrugDealer function of a smart contract implementation for Ether Cartel, an Ethereum game, allows attackers to take over the contract's ownership, aka ceoAnyone. After that, all the digital assets (including Ether balance and tokens) might be manipulated by the attackers, as exploited in the wild in May 2018.
If you want to get best quality of vulnerability data, you may have to visit VulDB.
Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 02/07/2020
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2018-11329 represents a critical security flaw in the smart contract implementation of Ether Cartel, an Ethereum-based gaming platform. This weakness specifically resides within the DrugDealer function, which was designed to manage certain operational aspects of the game's economy. The vulnerability stems from inadequate access control mechanisms that allow any external account to assume administrative privileges over the contract, effectively bypassing the intended ownership controls. This type of vulnerability falls under the category of improper access control as classified by CWE-284, where the system fails to properly restrict access to privileged functions.
The technical exploitation of this vulnerability occurs through a deliberate design flaw in the contract's ownership transfer mechanism. When the DrugDealer function is invoked, it does not properly validate whether the calling account possesses the necessary authorization to execute ownership-related operations. This oversight creates a pathway for malicious actors to call the function and gain control over the entire contract, essentially allowing anyone to become the contract administrator. The flaw demonstrates a classic case of privilege escalation where standard access controls are completely bypassed, enabling unauthorized parties to assume full administrative control over the smart contract's operations.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends far beyond simple administrative access, as it grants attackers complete control over the digital assets managed by the contract. Once compromised, attackers can manipulate the contract's Ether balance, transfer tokens, modify game parameters, and potentially drain all funds from the system. This vulnerability was actively exploited in the wild during May 2018, demonstrating its real-world severity and the immediate financial consequences that can result from such flaws. The attack vector was particularly dangerous because it required minimal technical expertise to execute, making it accessible to attackers with basic knowledge of Ethereum smart contract interactions.
Security practitioners should recognize this vulnerability as a prime example of how insufficient input validation and access control checks can lead to complete system compromise in blockchain environments. The vulnerability aligns with ATT&CK technique T1068, which describes the use of legitimate credentials and access to gain unauthorized access to systems. Organizations implementing smart contracts must ensure that all functions capable of modifying critical contract state or transferring ownership are properly protected with robust access control mechanisms. The incident highlights the importance of thorough code review processes and formal verification techniques to identify such critical flaws before deployment, as the financial impact of similar vulnerabilities can be catastrophic for decentralized applications and their users.
The broader implications of CVE-2018-11329 extend to the entire Ethereum ecosystem, where similar vulnerabilities have been discovered in numerous smart contracts. This flaw demonstrates the critical need for comprehensive security auditing practices and the implementation of proper ownership management protocols. The vulnerability serves as a cautionary tale about the importance of defensive programming in blockchain environments where the consequences of security breaches are permanent and irreversible. Security teams must implement multi-layered access control mechanisms, regular code audits, and automated testing procedures to prevent such vulnerabilities from being introduced into smart contract implementations.