Understanding Incorrect Token Owner Enumeration in ERC1155Enumerable

In this tutorial, we will dive into a specific type of vulnerability related to incorrect token owner enumeration in ERC1155Enumerable contracts. This vulnerability stems from improper handling of token ownership records, which can lead to faulty enumeration of tokens owned by accounts, incorrect token balances, and unintended behavior when transferring or burning tokens.

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What is ERC1155Enumerable?

ERC1155Enumerable is an extension of the ERC1155 standard that allows enumeration of token ownership, meaning the contract can track which tokens an account owns and how many tokens are in circulation. This functionality is crucial for projects that need to keep track of the full set of owned tokens for features like marketplaces, gaming platforms, or decentralized finance (DeFi) applications.

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The Vulnerability: Incorrect Enumeration

In a correct implementation of ERC1155Enumerable, when tokens are minted, transferred, or burned, the contract updates an internal data structure to reflect these changes. The vulnerability arises when these data structures are not properly updated, leading to incorrect token enumeration.

Problematic Data Structures

The vulnerability stems from the way the following data structures are handled:

• _ownedTokens: A mapping that tracks which tokens are owned by which account. It's defined as mapping(address => mapping(uint256 => uint256)), which associates an account's address with a list of token IDs.

• _ownedTokensIndex: A mapping that provides a lookup from a token ID to its index in the _ownedTokens list for an account.

Issue with Token Indexing

In the vulnerable implementation, the _currentIndex mapping, which keeps track of the next available index in the enumeration, is incremented before adding the token to the list. This causes the contract to skip the first index, resulting in incorrect token placement. Additionally, the _ownedTokensIndex mapping does not account for the possibility of multiple owners for the same token ID (which is allowed in the ERC1155 standard), leading to the potential overwriting of token ownership records.

As a result, when tokens are transferred or burned, the contract might remove the wrong token from the enumeration, leaving the internal state inconsistent and potentially causing ownership errors.

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Exploiting the Vulnerability

Let’s go over how an attacker might exploit this vulnerability:

1. Mint Tokens: The attacker or user mints tokens for multiple accounts.

2. Inconsistent Enumeration: Because the internal data structures are updated incorrectly, the enumeration of tokens may be faulty, meaning an account may appear to hold tokens that it no longer owns, or tokens may be mistakenly assigned to the wrong account.

3. Transfer or Burn Tokens: When tokens are transferred or burned, the incorrect token is removed from the enumeration, leading to potential loss or mismanagement of tokens.

For example, if an account (Alice) owns multiple token IDs, and another account (Bob) is minted the same token, the internal tracking of Alice’s tokens can become corrupt when Bob's tokens are added. When Alice attempts to transfer or burn tokens, she may lose tokens that she wasn’t intending to transfer or burn.

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Mitigating the Vulnerability

This vulnerability can be mitigated by following a few best practices and making changes to how token ownership is tracked.

1. Correct Indexing

Ensure that the _currentIndex mapping is updated correctly when adding or removing tokens from the enumeration. Specifically, do not increment the index until after the token is added, and make sure that the zero index is used.

function _addTokenToOwnerEnumeration(address to, uint256 tokenId) private {
    uint256 length = _currentIndex[to];
    _ownedTokens[to][length] = tokenId;
    _ownedTokensIndex[tokenId] = length;
    _currentIndex[to] += 1;
}

This ensures that the first token is correctly placed in the zero index, and subsequent tokens are added in the correct order.

2. Account-Specific Token Indexing

Instead of using a single global _ownedTokensIndex mapping, use a mapping that is scoped to individual accounts. This prevents the overwriting of token ownership records when multiple accounts are minted the same token ID.

mapping(address => mapping(uint256 => uint256)) private _ownedTokensIndex;

This ensures that each account’s ownership records are kept separate, preventing interference between accounts.

3. Test Thoroughly for Edge Cases

Thoroughly test your implementation with edge cases such as:

• Multiple tokens of the same ID being minted to different accounts.

• Transferring and burning tokens from accounts with overlapping ownership of token IDs.

• Handling large numbers of tokens and transfers to ensure scalability.

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Conclusion

Incorrect token enumeration can lead to serious issues in any ERC1155Enumerable implementation. By ensuring that indexing and ownership tracking are handled correctly, you can prevent these vulnerabilities and keep your contract’s internal state consistent. As always, thorough testing and regular audits of your contract code are essential to maintaining security and preventing exploitation.