Sigvex
SolanaRemediation2 min read

Account Reallocation Remediation

How to fix unsafe account reallocation patterns.

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Account Reallocation Remediation

Overview

Detector Reference: Account Reallocation

This guide explains how to safely resize Solana accounts, covering zero-fill, rent exemption, discriminator validation, and data preservation.

Follow this four-step pattern for every reallocation:

// Step 1: Read existing data
let old_data = MyAccount::try_from_slice(&account.data.borrow())?;

// Step 2: Realloc with zero-fill enabled
account.realloc(new_size, true)?;

// Step 3: Ensure rent exemption
let rent = Rent::get()?;
let required_lamports = rent.minimum_balance(new_size);
if account.lamports() < required_lamports {
    let diff = required_lamports - account.lamports();
    **payer.try_borrow_mut_lamports()? -= diff;
    **account.try_borrow_mut_lamports()? += diff;
}

// Step 4: Re-validate and write migrated data
let mut data = account.data.borrow_mut();
require!(data[0..8] == MyAccount::DISCRIMINATOR, InvalidDiscriminator);
old_data.migrate(new_size).serialize(&mut &mut data[..])?;

Alternative Mitigations

  1. Use the account-validation framework’s realloc constraint: #[account(mut, realloc = size, realloc::payer = payer, realloc::zero = true)] handles zero-fill and rent automatically.
  2. Manual memset: if you cannot use realloc(_, true), zero new space with sol_memset(&mut data[old_size..], 0, new_size - old_size).
  3. Reject shrinking: if your account layout does not support migration, reject realloc requests that reduce size.

Common Mistakes

  • Setting realloc::zero = false: leaves stale data in newly allocated space, risking information leakage.
  • Forgetting rent adjustment: the account may be garbage-collected if lamports are insufficient for the new size.
  • Skipping discriminator revalidation: after realloc, the data layout may be invalid; always re-check the discriminator.
  • Not reading data before realloc: shrinking destroys data beyond the new boundary. Read first, migrate, then write.

References