CVE-2018-13700 in IPMCoin
Summary
by MITRE
The mintToken function of a smart contract implementation for IPMCoin, 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 • 02/28/2020
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2018-13700 resides within the mintToken function of IPMCoin smart contract implementation on the Ethereum blockchain. This critical flaw represents a classic integer overflow vulnerability that fundamentally compromises the contract's integrity and security model. The vulnerability manifests when the mintToken function processes token minting operations, allowing the contract owner to manipulate user balances beyond normal operational parameters.
The technical nature of this vulnerability aligns with CWE-190, which specifically addresses integer overflow conditions that can lead to unexpected behavior in software systems. In the context of Ethereum smart contracts, this overflow occurs during arithmetic operations within the mintToken function where the contract fails to properly validate or constrain the values being processed. When the owner invokes this function, they can manipulate the balance calculation in such a way that the resulting value wraps around to an arbitrary number, effectively enabling them to set any user's token balance to any desired amount.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends far beyond simple balance manipulation, creating a comprehensive security breach that undermines the fundamental trust model of the token system. The contract owner can arbitrarily increase or decrease user balances, potentially enabling theft of funds, creation of unlimited tokens, or manipulation of token distribution mechanisms. This vulnerability directly affects the principle of secure token management and can lead to significant financial losses for token holders and the broader ecosystem.
From an attacker perspective, this vulnerability maps to multiple ATT&CK techniques including T1068 for local privilege escalation and T1548.001 for privilege abuse within the smart contract environment. The vulnerability allows for unauthorized modification of the token supply and user balances without detection, making it particularly dangerous for decentralized applications that rely on automated trust mechanisms. The exploitability of this vulnerability is high since it only requires the owner's private key access, which can be compromised through various attack vectors including phishing, key storage vulnerabilities, or social engineering.
Mitigation strategies for this vulnerability require immediate contract-level fixes including proper input validation, boundary checking, and overflow protection mechanisms. The smart contract should implement explicit checks to prevent arithmetic operations from exceeding maximum integer values, utilizing safe math libraries or explicit overflow detection patterns. Additionally, the contract owner should consider implementing multi-signature controls and time locks for critical functions to prevent unauthorized access. Regular security audits and formal verification of smart contract code should become standard practice to identify and remediate similar vulnerabilities before they can be exploited in production environments.