CVE-2018-13743 in SuperEnergy
Summary
by MITRE
The mintToken function of a smart contract implementation for SuperEnergy (SEC), 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 • 03/03/2020
The vulnerability identified in CVE-2018-13743 represents a critical integer overflow flaw within the mintToken function of the SuperEnergy (SEC) Ethereum token smart contract implementation. This vulnerability stems from inadequate input validation and arithmetic overflow handling within the contract's codebase, creating a scenario where the contract owner can manipulate user balances arbitrarily. The issue manifests when the mintToken function processes token minting operations without proper bounds checking, allowing for overflow conditions that can be exploited to manipulate account balances. Such vulnerabilities are particularly dangerous in decentralized finance applications where token balances directly correlate to user assets and access permissions.
The technical exploitation of this vulnerability falls under CWE-190, which specifically addresses integer overflow and underflow conditions in software implementations. When the mintToken function executes, it performs arithmetic operations on token amounts without validating whether these operations would exceed the maximum value that can be represented by the underlying data type. This creates an opportunity for attackers to craft specific inputs that cause the arithmetic to wrap around to unexpected values, effectively allowing the contract owner to set any user's balance to an arbitrary value. The vulnerability exists because the smart contract code does not implement proper overflow detection mechanisms that are standard practice in secure smart contract development. This flaw directly violates security principles outlined in the Ethereum Smart Contract Security Best Practices, which emphasize the importance of input validation and overflow protection.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple balance manipulation, as it fundamentally compromises the integrity of the token economy and user trust within the SuperEnergy ecosystem. An attacker with access to the contract owner account can effectively drain or inflate user balances at will, potentially leading to complete loss of funds for affected users. The vulnerability also creates potential for manipulation of governance mechanisms if token balances are used to determine voting rights or access privileges. From an attacker's perspective, this represents a high-value exploit opportunity as it allows for immediate financial gain and can be executed without requiring additional user interaction or complex multi-step attacks. The consequences can be particularly severe in decentralized applications where users trust the smart contract to maintain accurate and secure balance records.
Mitigation strategies for this vulnerability should focus on implementing comprehensive input validation and overflow protection mechanisms within the smart contract code. The recommended approach involves adding explicit bounds checking before any arithmetic operations in the mintToken function, utilizing safe math libraries such as OpenZeppelin's SafeMath implementation, and ensuring that all integer operations include proper overflow detection. Additionally, contract owners should conduct thorough security audits and implement proper access control mechanisms to limit the privileges of the owner account. The fix should also include comprehensive testing of edge cases and boundary conditions to ensure that the arithmetic operations behave correctly under all circumstances. Organizations should also consider implementing multi-signature wallets for contract ownership and regular security assessments to prevent similar vulnerabilities from being introduced in future smart contract implementations. These measures align with the ATT&CK framework's defense-in-depth principles and help establish a robust security posture against similar integer overflow vulnerabilities.