CVE-2018-13592 in RajTest
Summary
by MITRE
The mintToken function of a smart contract implementation for RajTest, an Ethereum token, has an integer overflow that allows the owner of the contract to set the balance of an arbitrary user to any value.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 02/27/2020
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2018-13592 resides within the mintToken function of RajTest, an Ethereum-based token smart contract implementation. This flaw represents a critical integer overflow vulnerability that fundamentally compromises the contract's integrity and security model. The vulnerability manifests when the mintToken function processes token minting operations without proper input validation, creating an opportunity for malicious actors to manipulate the token supply and user balances. The integer overflow occurs at the contract level where arithmetic operations exceed the maximum value that can be stored in the designated data type, leading to unexpected behavior and potential exploitation.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability stems from the absence of proper overflow checks within the mintToken function's arithmetic operations. When the contract attempts to increment user balances or total supply values, the lack of validation allows for overflow conditions to occur naturally. This vulnerability directly maps to CWE-190, which describes integer overflow and underflow conditions that can lead to unexpected program behavior. The flaw operates at the core of Ethereum's smart contract execution environment where all computations must be deterministic and secure, yet this vulnerability allows for arbitrary manipulation of the contract's state. The owner of the contract can exploit this weakness to set any user's balance to an arbitrary value, effectively enabling them to create unlimited tokens or manipulate existing balances.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple financial manipulation to encompass complete contract compromise and potential loss of user funds. An attacker with owner privileges can leverage this vulnerability to inflate their own token holdings or manipulate other users' balances to zero, creating a scenario where the token's economic model becomes completely compromised. This vulnerability fundamentally undermines the trust model that decentralized applications depend upon, as users cannot rely on the integrity of their token balances. The exploitability of this vulnerability is particularly concerning because it requires no external interaction beyond having owner access to the contract, making it a privileged attack vector that can be executed silently. From an attacker's perspective, this vulnerability aligns with ATT&CK technique T1059.006 for smart contract manipulation and represents a critical point of failure in the contract's access control model.
Mitigation strategies for this vulnerability require immediate implementation of proper input validation and overflow checks within the mintToken function. The contract should incorporate explicit checks to prevent arithmetic operations from exceeding maximum integer values, utilizing libraries such as OpenZeppelin's SafeMath or similar overflow protection mechanisms. Additionally, the contract owner should implement comprehensive access control measures and consider using multi-signature wallets for critical operations. The remediation process must include thorough code auditing and testing of all arithmetic operations within the smart contract to prevent similar vulnerabilities from existing in other functions. Regular security assessments and formal verification of smart contract code should become standard practice to identify and address potential integer overflow conditions before they can be exploited. The vulnerability also necessitates a review of the contract's overall architecture to ensure that all functions implementing arithmetic operations follow secure coding practices and adhere to the principle of least privilege for administrative operations.