Missing Owner Check Remediation

Overview

Related Detector: Missing Owner Check

Missing owner checks allow attackers to pass accounts owned by an arbitrary program, not the expected program. Since any program can create accounts, an attacker can craft a fake account with matching data layout but incorrect ownership. The fix is to verify account.owner before deserializing and using account data.

Recommended Fix

Before (Vulnerable)

use solana_program::{account_info::AccountInfo, entrypoint::ProgramResult};

pub fn process_stake(accounts: &[AccountInfo], amount: u64) -> ProgramResult {
    let stake_account = &accounts[0];
    let data = stake_account.data.borrow();

    // VULNERABLE: no owner check — attacker passes a fake account
    // owned by their malicious program with crafted data
    let authority = Pubkey::from_slice(&data[8..40])?;
    let current_stake = u64::from_le_bytes(data[40..48].try_into().unwrap());

    // Attacker controls authority and current_stake values
    process_rewards(authority, current_stake)?;
    Ok(())
}

After (Fixed)

use solana_program::{
    account_info::AccountInfo,
    entrypoint::ProgramResult,
    program_error::ProgramError,
    pubkey::Pubkey,
};

pub fn process_stake(accounts: &[AccountInfo], amount: u64) -> ProgramResult {
    let stake_account = &accounts[0];

    // FIXED: verify account is owned by this program before reading data
    if stake_account.owner != &crate::id() {
        return Err(ProgramError::IncorrectProgramId);
    }

    let data = stake_account.data.borrow();

    // Also validate the discriminator to prevent type cosplay
    if data.len() < 8 || data[0..8] != STAKE_ACCOUNT_DISCRIMINATOR {
        return Err(ProgramError::InvalidAccountData);
    }

    let authority = Pubkey::from_slice(&data[8..40])?;
    let current_stake = u64::from_le_bytes(data[40..48].try_into().unwrap());
    process_rewards(authority, current_stake)?;
    Ok(())
}

Alternative Mitigations

1. Anchor Account<'info, T> (Recommended)

Anchor’s Account<'info, T> performs both owner and discriminator checks automatically:

use anchor_lang::prelude::*;

#[account]
pub struct StakeAccount {
    pub authority: Pubkey,    // offset 8
    pub stake_amount: u64,    // offset 40
    pub rewards_earned: u64,  // offset 48
}

#[derive(Accounts)]
pub struct ProcessStake<'info> {
    // Account<'info, StakeAccount> validates:
    // 1. stake_account.owner == program_id
    // 2. discriminator == SHA256("account:StakeAccount")[0..8]
    // 3. Deserializes safely
    pub stake_account: Account<'info, StakeAccount>,
    pub authority: Signer<'info>,
}

pub fn process_stake(ctx: Context<ProcessStake>, amount: u64) -> Result<()> {
    // Owner and discriminator guaranteed by Anchor — safe to access fields
    let stake = &ctx.accounts.stake_account;
    process_rewards(stake.authority, stake.stake_amount)?;
    Ok(())
}

2. Explicit Owner Check Helper

For native programs, create a reusable owner validation helper:

use solana_program::{account_info::AccountInfo, program_error::ProgramError};

/// Verify that an account is owned by the current program.
pub fn verify_program_owned(account: &AccountInfo) -> Result<(), ProgramError> {
    if account.owner != &crate::id() {
        return Err(ProgramError::IncorrectProgramId);
    }
    Ok(())
}

/// Verify that an account is owned by a specific expected program.
pub fn verify_owned_by(account: &AccountInfo, expected_owner: &Pubkey) -> Result<(), ProgramError> {
    if account.owner != expected_owner {
        return Err(ProgramError::IncorrectProgramId);
    }
    Ok(())
}

// Usage
pub fn process(accounts: &[AccountInfo]) -> ProgramResult {
    verify_program_owned(&accounts[0])?;
    // Safe to proceed
    Ok(())
}

3. SPL Token Account Ownership

For token accounts, verify both program ownership and token mint:

use spl_token::state::Account as TokenAccount;
use solana_program::program_pack::Pack;

pub fn verify_token_account(
    account: &AccountInfo,
    expected_mint: &Pubkey,
    expected_owner: &Pubkey,
) -> ProgramResult {
    // Check program ownership (must be spl_token program)
    if account.owner != &spl_token::id() {
        return Err(ProgramError::IncorrectProgramId);
    }

    // Unpack and verify token account fields
    let token_account = TokenAccount::unpack(&account.data.borrow())?;
    if &token_account.mint != expected_mint {
        return Err(ProgramError::InvalidAccountData);
    }
    if &token_account.owner != expected_owner {
        return Err(ProgramError::InvalidAccountData);
    }

    Ok(())
}

Common Mistakes

Mistake 1: Checking Signer but Not Owner

// INSUFFICIENT: signer check prevents unauthorized callers but not
// fake accounts that happen to have a valid signature from the attacker
if !accounts[0].is_signer {
    return Err(ProgramError::MissingRequiredSignature);
}
// Still vulnerable: accounts[0] could be owned by attacker's program
let data = accounts[0].data.borrow();

Mistake 2: Using key() as a Proxy for Ownership

// WRONG: key match does not verify ownership
// An attacker can create an account AT the expected key if the key is predictable
if accounts[0].key != &expected_pubkey {
    return Err(ProgramError::InvalidAccountData);
}
// Still vulnerable: if expected_pubkey is a known address the attacker can
// front-run account creation, ownership still belongs to attacker's program

Mistake 3: Checking Owner But Not Discriminator

// INCOMPLETE: owner check prevents cross-program attacks but not
// intra-program type cosplay (accounts of different types owned by the same program)
if accounts[0].owner != &crate::id() {
    return Err(ProgramError::IncorrectProgramId);
}
// A Vault account owned by this program passes the check — but we expected StakeAccount
// Always also check the discriminator

References

• Solana AccountInfo.owner Documentation
• Anchor Account Type Documentation
• Sealevel Attacks: Missing Owner Check
• Solana Program Security Best Practices