SmartFinance Honeypot

Reported loss Not disclosed
BNB Chain
Honeypot

What happened

SmartFinance (SMART) was a BNB Chain token whose transferFrom function only works for addresses on an allowlist: require(allow[_from] == true);. At deployment only the deployer is on that list. Selling through PancakeSwap's router uses transferFrom to pull tokens from the seller, so every ordinary sell reverts, while buys succeed because the pool pays out with the unrestricted transfer.

The allowlist is controlled by addAllow, whose onlyOwner check is hard-coded to one address, 0xf7E1F5a3…432982, rather than the stored owner. De.Fi's REKT database lists SmartFinance as an exit scam / honeypot dated 2021-04-27, the day the contract was deployed.

How it happened

  1. The constructor gives the deployer the whole supply and puts only the deployer on the allowlist: balances[msg.sender] = totalSupply; and allow[msg.sender] = true;.
  2. transferFrom requires allow[_from] == true. The deployer is allowed, so it can use the router's transferFrom to add liquidity to the PancakeSwap pool.
  3. A buy succeeds because the pool sends SMART to the buyer through transfer, which checks only the balance and a non-zero recipient.
  4. A sell through the router calls transferFrom(seller, pair, amount). The seller is not on the allowlist, so the call reverts and the swap fails. Selling would need a manual transfer into the pair followed by a direct call to the pair's swap, which the standard router flow does not do.
  5. Only the hard-coded address in modifier onlyOwner() {require(msg.sender == address(0xf7E1F5a3B02178BAFBAE0c6C080622669c432982));_;} can change the list through addAllow. transferOwnership changes the stored owner but not that check, and there is no renounce function, so this power cannot be given up.
  6. Because the deployer can sell and remove liquidity while other holders cannot use the router to sell, BNB paid in by buyers can end up with the deployer. The sources reviewed do not show whether or when that happened.

Protocol details

Classification Token
Protocol Type Exit Scam/Honeypot
Affected asset / contract SMART

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