README.md

missing_owner_check

What it does:

This lint checks that for each account referenced in a program, that there is a corresponding owner check on that account. Specifically, this means that the owner field is referenced on that account.

Why is this bad?

The missing-owner-check vulnerability occurs when a program uses an account, but does not check that it is owned by the expected program. This could lead to vulnerabilities where a malicious actor passes in an account owned by program X when what was expected was an account owned by program Y. The code may then perform unexpected operations on that spoofed account.

For example, suppose a program expected an account to be owned by the SPL Token program. If no owner check is done on the account, then a malicious actor could pass in an account owned by some other program. The code may then perform some actions on the unauthorized account that is not owned by the SPL Token program.

Works on:

• Anchor
• Non Anchor

Known problems:

Key checks can be strengthened. Currently, the lint only checks that the account's owner field is referenced somewhere, ie, AccountInfo.owner.

Example:

See https://github.com/coral-xyz/sealevel-attacks/blob/master/programs/2-owner-checks/insecure/src/lib.rs for an insecure example.

Use instead:

See https://github.com/coral-xyz/sealevel-attacks/blob/master/programs/2-owner-checks/secure/src/lib.rs for a secure example.

How the lint is implemented:

check_fn:

• for every function defined in the package
• exclude functions generated from macro expansion.
• Get a list of unique and unsafe AccountInfo's referenced in the body
  • for each expression in the function body
  • Ignore .clone() expressions as the expression referencing original account will be checked
  • Check if the expression's type is Solana's AccountInfo (solana_program::account_info::AccountInfo)
  • Ignore local variable expressions (x where x is defined in the function let x = y)
    • Removes duplcate warnings: both x and y are reported by the lint. reporting y is sufficient.
    • Also the owner could be checked on y. reporting x which a copy/ref of y would be false-positive.
    • Determined using the expression kind (.kind): expr.kind = ExprKind::Path(QPath::Resolved(None, path)); path.segments.len() == 1
  • Ignore safe .to_account_info() expressions
    • .to_account_info() method can be called to convert different Anchor account types to AccountInfo
    • The Anchor account types such as Account implement Owner trait: The owner of the account is checked during deserialization
    • The expressions x.to_account_info() where x has one of following types are ignored:
      • Account requires its type argument to implement anchor_lang::Owner.
      • Program's implementation of try_from checks the account's program id. So there is no ambiguity in regard to the account's owner.
      • SystemAccount's implementation of try_from checks that the account's owner is the System Program.
      • AccountLoader requires its type argument to implement anchor_lang::Owner.
      • Signer are mostly accounts with a private key and most of the times owned by System Program.
      • Sysvar type arguments checks the account key.
  • Ignore x.to_account_info() expressions called on Anchor AccountInfo to remove duplicates.
    • the lint checks the original expression x; no need for checking both.
• For each of the collected expressions, check if owner is accessed or if the key is compared
  • Ignore the account_expr if any of the expressions in the function is {account_expr}.owner
  • Ignore the account_expr if key is compared
    • if there is a comparison expression (== or !=) and one of the expressions being compared accesses key on account_expr:
      • lhs or rhs of the comparison is {account_expr}.key(); The key for Anchor's AccountInfo is accessed using .key()
      • Or lhs or rhs is {account_expr}.key; The key of Solana AccountInfo are accessed using .key
  • Else
    • If the expression is .to_account_info() and the receiver is a field access on a struct: x.y.to_account_info()
    • Or If the expression is a field access on a struct x.y
      • Then store the struct(x) def id and the accessed field name (y) in MissingOwnerCheck.account_exprs.
    • Else report the expression.

check_item: Collect Anchor Accounts structs

• for each item defined in the crate
  • If Item is a Struct and implements anchor_lang::ToAccountInfos trait.
    • Get the pre-expansion source code and parse it using anchor's accounts parser
    • If parsing succeeds
      • Then store the struct def id and the resultant AccountsStruct in MissingOwnerCheck.anchor_accounts

check_crate_post:

• for each account expression in MissingOwnerCheck.account_exprs
  • If the struct accessed in the expression is in MissingOwnerCheck.anchor_accounts
    • find the #[account(...)] constraints applied on the accessed field
    • If any of the following constraints are applied on the field/account
      • Then ignore the expression.
      • Constraints:
        • #[account(signer)] - Signer accounts are assumed to be EOA accounts and are ignored.
        • #[account(init, ...)] - init creates a new account and sets its owner to current program or the given program.
        • #[account(seeds = ..., ...)] - Anchor derives a PDA using the seeds. This is essentially a key check
        • #[account(address = ...)] - Validates the key of the account.
        • #[account(owner = ...)] - Checks the owner.
        • #[account(executable)] - The account is an executable; All executables are owned by BPFLoaders.
      • Else report the expression.