89040 bc high wormhole miner fee credit records no zk tree leaf freezing miner yield

Submitted on Aug 16th 2026 at 17:37:40 UTC by @AlexSR for Audit Comp | Quantus

• Report ID: #89040

• Report Type: Blockchain/DLT

• Report severity: High

• Target: https://github.com/immunefi-team/audit-comp-quantus-chain

• Impacts:

  • Permanent freezing of funds

Description

Summary

On this chain a native balance at a Poseidon-derived wormhole address is spendable only through a zk-tree leaf. process_exit_bundle follows that rule for two credits and breaks it for a third. The exit-principal credit records a leaf (pallets/wormhole/src/lib.rs:854) and the block-reward credit records a leaf (pallets/mining-rewards/src/lib.rs:232), but the volume-fee credit to the block author increases the author's balance and stops there (pallets/wormhole/src/lib.rs:955-964). The credited fee gets no leaf, so no withdrawal proof can be built for it, and the address is keyless, so no ordinary signed transfer can move it either. The miner cannot recover the fee by any permissionless action.

This happens on ordinary operation with no attacker. Every fee-bearing wormhole exit produces a nonzero miner fee under the shipped config (VolumeFeeRateBps = 4, VolumeFeesBurnRate = 50%, runtime/src/configs/mod.rs:734-736), and each such exit strands the miner's share once the fee is credited to the block author (the code otherwise burns it, lib.rs:966-982). The miner's share is quantized to whole 0.01 DEV units by the leaf format (DEV is the token symbol, node/src/chain_spec.rs:15; source comments call it QUAN), so the stranded, recoverable-if-fixed value is floor(miner_fee / 1e10) units. That is zero only for the smallest fee tier and nonzero for every exit of 25 DEV or more, which is where this report is scoped.

Verified on the frozen in-scope tree (commit 3b243b87, pallets/wormhole/src/lib.rs is fork-authored and compiles into the runtime Wasm unconditionally). A drop-in unit test drives the pallet's real process_exit_bundle and asserts the miner is credited while the zk-tree leaf count does not increase for the fee. Root cause, reachability, the duplicate check, the fix and references are in the Validation Steps field.

Root cause

The volume-fee success arm credits the block author but omits the record_transfer call that the two other keyless-address credits (the exit principal and the block reward) both make.

The exit path sets the invariant in the same function: each exit account is credited event-free with increase_balance and then gets a leaf via record_transfer (lib.rs:854). The NOTE above (lib.rs:822-827) says the event-free credit is deliberate precisely because the path records its proof "via record_transfer below."

pallet-mining-rewards credits the identical wormhole address (same extract_author_from_digest, mining-rewards/src/lib.rs:207) and records a leaf via record_transfer_proof after minting (:230-232).

The volume-fee arm does neither follow-up. It credits the author with increase_balance (lib.rs:955-959), emits MinerVolumeFeePaid (:961-964), and returns. No record_transfer, no record_transfer_proof. The credit lands as a bare balance with no note behind it.

This is the residue of a prior fix. The March-2026 audit finding EQ-QNT-WORMHOLE-F-03 corrected how the author is derived at this site (now extract_author_from_digest at :946); it never added a leaf, and the missing-leaf defect it left behind is what this report describes. See the "Not a duplicate" section in Validation Steps.

Why a missing leaf is a permanent freeze

The credit lands on a keyless address whose only spend instrument is a zk-tree leaf, and no permissionless path can create the missing leaf.

The recipient is keyless. A signable account id on this chain is poseidon(dilithium_public_key) (primitives/dilithium-crypto/src/scheme_macro.rs:244). The block-author address is poseidon(poseidon(preimage)), derived from the PoW pre-runtime digest (primitives/wormhole/src/lib.rs:101,109,146-148). No Dilithium keypair can be found for that address (Poseidon preimage resistance), so no ordinary signed Balances transfer can move the balance. The runtime states the same invariant: value credited to a keyless beneficiary with no matching leaf is "unexitable" (runtime/src/configs/mod.rs:583-586).

Nothing can supply the leaf after the fact. pallet-zk-tree exposes no extrinsic (no #[pallet::call] in pallets/zk-tree/src/lib.rs); insert_leaf is an internal function reachable only through record_transfer/record_transfer_proof. The runtime's event scanner records a leaf only for four Balances events, Transfer, Minted, TransferOnHold and ReserveRepatriated (runtime/src/transaction_extensions.rs:339-377), and increase_balance emits none of them (the reason the exit path uses it, lib.rs:822-827, pinned by the test exit_credits_emit_no_scannable_transfer_events). Nothing consumes the MinerVolumeFeePaid event. The miner has no path to recover it; only privileged Root governance can, by moving the balance with a scheduler-enacted force_transfer (Root-only, runtime/src/transaction_extensions.rs:291-292) or a runtime migration that adds the leaf.

Trigger and preconditions

No attacker and no privilege. The victim is the block author. The trigger is any honest, permissionless wormhole exit whose minted amount is at least 25 DEV, submitted through the ensure_none extrinsics verify_private_batch/verify_public_batch (lib.rs:589,626). Under the shipped config every fee-bearing exit produces miner_fee = k * 5e9 > 0; the minimum 5e9 planck exceeds the existential deposit, so the credit lands rather than routing to the burn fallback; and k >= 2, a nonzero recoverable amount, holds for any exit of 25 DEV or more. The precondition derivation is in the Validation Steps field.

Sequence:

1

Submit a wormhole exit

A user submits a wormhole exit of 25 DEV or more. process_exit_bundle mints the exit principal and records its leaf (lib.rs:854).

2

Credit the miner fee

The same call computes miner_fee = k * 5e9 planck, finds the block author from the digest, and credits it with increase_balance (lib.rs:955-964). No leaf is recorded.

3

Freeze the credited balance

The miner now holds k * 0.005 DEV of balance at a keyless address with no note. floor(k/2) quanta of it were recoverable had the leaf been written; they are now frozen with no path to a withdrawal proof.

Impact

Permanent freezing of the miner's volume-fee yield. Per qualifying exit the frozen, recoverable-if-fixed amount is floor(k/2) quanta (>= 0.01 DEV for any exit of 25 DEV or more): the miner's half of the volume fee, rounded down to whole quanta. The loss accrues on every fee-bearing exit above the threshold for as long as the code is unpatched, so the aggregate grows without bound with exit volume even though each instance is small.

The direction is a freeze, not a transfer. The fee is credited to the miner's own address and is not burned and not redirected; it cannot be spent. There is no state corruption, no user-principal loss (the exit principal is delivered correctly with its leaf), and no inflation: the miner credit uses increase_balance, which raises the balance without raising total issuance (lib.rs:884-885).

Severity

Permanent freezing of unclaimed yield

This report files at High on that rung: the chain credits and announces miner yield but omits the only bearer leaf with which the miner can claim it. That share is yield earned for producing the block, and it is credited but never spendable, so it is permanently frozen unclaimed yield.

Proof of Concept

miner_fee_missing_leaf_poc.rs (attached) holds two drop-in unit tests. Append them to pallets/wormhole/src/tests.rs; they reuse the mock runtime, the direct-process_exit_bundle pattern of the existing exit_bundle_tests module, and the set_miner_preimage_digest helper.

• poc_miner_fee_credited_without_leaf_is_frozen builds a k >= 2 exit (minted 25 DEV), seeds a block-author digest, calls process_exit_bundle, then asserts the miner is credited (MinerVolumeFeePaid, balance up by miner_fee) while the zk-tree LeafCount rises by exactly one, the exit principal's leaf. A second leaf would exist if the fee had recorded one; it does not.

• poc_k1_tier_has_zero_recoverable_value shows the sub-quantum tier this report does not file: a 20 DEV exit yields miner_fee = 5e9 planck, and miner_fee / AMOUNT_SCALE_DOWN_FACTOR = 0, so even the fixed path records a zero-value leaf.

git clone https://github.com/immunefi-team/audit-comp-quantus-chain && cd audit-comp-quantus-chain
git checkout 3b243b870a5442a6e5f443056f67bbba87d472f5   # frozen audited commit
cat /path/to/miner_fee_missing_leaf_poc.rs >> pallets/wormhole/src/tests.rs
cargo test -p pallet-wormhole --lib poc_miner_fee_missing_leaf -- --nocapture

Commands, expected results, and the build environment are in RUN.md; the verbatim run output is in POC_EXECUTED_GREEN.md. These are single in-process unit tests; no node or network is involved.

What the PoC proves vs. stubs

Claim	Status
process_exit_bundle credits the miner (MinerVolumeFeePaid, balance up)	Executed green (test 1)
The miner-fee credit records no leaf (LeafCount delta == 1, the exit principal only)	Executed green (test 1)
k >= 2 recoverable-if-fixed value is nonzero; k = 1 is zero	Executed green (test 2); Argued from source (tree.rs:146-148)
Recipient is keyless: poseidon(poseidon(preimage)) vs signable poseidon(pubkey)	Argued from source (scheme_macro.rs:244; primitives/wormhole/src/lib.rs:101,109)
No path can supply the missing leaf	Argued from source (no #[pallet::call] in pallets/zk-tree/src/lib.rs; scanner transaction_extensions.rs:339-377; no MinerVolumeFeePaid consumer)
Shipped config makes miner_fee > 0 and above the ED on every fee-bearing exit	Argued from source (configs/mod.rs:734-736; runtime/src/lib.rs:98,102)
The fix compiles and the patch applies	Authored; not part of the executed run (add_miner_fee_leaf.patch)

// Proof of concept: the wormhole volume-fee credit to the block author records
// no zk-tree leaf, so the credited fee is unspendable (permanently frozen at a
// keyless address).
//
// This is a drop-in unit test for the wormhole pallet. Append it to
// `pallets/wormhole/src/tests.rs`. It reuses that suite's mock runtime, its
// direct-`process_exit_bundle` pattern (see the `exit_bundle_tests` module) and
// its `set_miner_preimage_digest` helper (see the existing miner-fee test).
//
// It drives the real `process_exit_bundle` with a hand-built bundle and a
// seeded block-author digest, then asserts:
//   1. the miner is credited the volume fee (MinerVolumeFeePaid, balance up), and
//   2. the zk-tree leaf count increases by exactly one (the exit principal's
//      leaf), so the miner fee added no leaf and has no withdrawal note.
//
// No node, network, or live state is involved; it is a single in-process test.

#[cfg(test)]
mod poc_miner_fee_missing_leaf {
	use crate::mock::*;
	use crate::pallet::{ExitBundle, ExitSegment};
	use frame_support::assert_ok;
	use frame_support::traits::fungible::Inspect;
	use qp_wormhole_verifier::{BlockData, BytesDigest, PublicInputsByAccount};
	use sp_core::crypto::AccountId32;

	fn digest(byte: u8) -> BytesDigest {
		BytesDigest::new_unchecked([byte; 32])
	}

	// One segment: a single real exit account plus two nullifiers.
	fn bundle_with(exit_byte: u8, quantized_amount: u32) -> ExitBundle {
		ExitBundle {
			asset_id: 0,
			volume_fee_bps: VolumeFeeRateBps::get(),
			block_data: BlockData::default(),
			aggregator_address: None,
			segments: vec![ExitSegment {
				account_data: vec![PublicInputsByAccount {
					summed_output_amount: quantized_amount,
					exit_account: digest(exit_byte),
				}],
				nullifiers: vec![digest(1), digest(2)],
			}],
		}
	}

	/// k >= 2 tier (the tier this report files). Minted exit = 25 DEV
	/// (quantized 2500). fee = 4 bps, burn = 50%, so miner_fee = 1e10 planck =
	/// one quantum. The miner is credited, but no zk-tree leaf is recorded for
	/// the fee, so the balance is frozen at the keyless block-author address.
	#[test]
	fn poc_miner_fee_credited_without_leaf_is_frozen() {
		new_test_ext().execute_with(|| {
			System::set_block_number(1);

			// Seed the block author via the PoW pre-runtime digest, exactly as
			// QPoW does. The derived address is poseidon(poseidon(preimage)) -
			// a keyless wormhole address, not poseidon(dilithium_pubkey).
			let miner_preimage = [7u8; 32];
			set_miner_preimage_digest(miner_preimage);
			let author = AccountId32::from(
				qp_wormhole::derive_wormhole_address(miner_preimage)
					.expect("test preimage limbs are canonical"),
			);

			// Expected miner fee under the shipped config.
			let fee_bps = VolumeFeeRateBps::get() as u128;
			let total_fee = super::ceil_volume_fee(2500u128, fee_bps);
			let miner_fee = total_fee - total_fee / 2;
			assert!(miner_fee > 0, "config must produce a nonzero miner fee");

			// k >= 2: the recoverable-if-fixed leaf value is nonzero. The leaf
			// format floors amount / AMOUNT_SCALE_DOWN_FACTOR to a u32.
			let recoverable_quanta =
				miner_fee / pallet_zk_tree::tree::AMOUNT_SCALE_DOWN_FACTOR;
			assert!(
				recoverable_quanta >= 1,
				"this report is scoped to the k>=2 tier (nonzero recoverable value)"
			);

			let leaves_before = pallet_zk_tree::LeafCount::<Test>::get();
			let author_balance_before = Balances::balance(&author);

			assert_ok!(Wormhole::process_exit_bundle(bundle_with(10, 2500)));

			// (1) The miner was credited the fee as a bare balance.
			System::assert_has_event(
				crate::Event::<Test>::MinerVolumeFeePaid {
					miner: author.clone(),
					amount: miner_fee,
				}
				.into(),
			);
			assert_eq!(
				Balances::balance(&author),
				author_balance_before + miner_fee,
				"miner fee must be credited",
			);

			// (2) Exactly one leaf was created: the exit principal's. If the
			// miner-fee credit had recorded a leaf, the delta would be two.
			let leaves_after = pallet_zk_tree::LeafCount::<Test>::get();
			assert_eq!(
				leaves_after - leaves_before,
				1,
				"one exit account => one leaf; the miner fee recorded no leaf",
			);
		});
	}

	/// k = 1 tier (the sub-quantum tier this report does NOT file). Minted exit
	/// = 20 DEV (quantized 2000) => miner_fee = 5e9 planck, below one quantum,
	/// so even the fixed path would record a zero-value leaf and nothing is
	/// recoverable. This case is conceded to the programme's known issue on
	/// rewards below the quantized minimum, and is separated out here.
	#[test]
	fn poc_k1_tier_has_zero_recoverable_value() {
		new_test_ext().execute_with(|| {
			let fee_bps = VolumeFeeRateBps::get() as u128;
			let total_fee = super::ceil_volume_fee(2000u128, fee_bps);
			let miner_fee = total_fee - total_fee / 2;
			let recoverable_quanta =
				miner_fee / pallet_zk_tree::tree::AMOUNT_SCALE_DOWN_FACTOR;
			assert_eq!(
				recoverable_quanta, 0,
				"k=1 fee is sub-quantum; recoverable value is zero even with the fix",
			);
		});
	}
}