Sigvex
SolanaRemediation1 min read

Insufficient Lamport Balance Remediation

How to fix missing lamport balance validation before transfers.

svmfund-safety

Insufficient Lamport Balance Remediation

Overview

Related Detector: Insufficient Lamport Balance

Missing balance validation before lamport transfers can cause underflow panics or denial-of-service. The fix is to always validate that the source account holds enough lamports to cover the transfer while maintaining rent-exempt minimum balance.

Before (Vulnerable)

// Vulnerable: no balance check
**vault.lamports.borrow_mut() -= amount;
**user.lamports.borrow_mut() += amount;

After (Fixed)

// Fixed: check balance and rent exemption
let rent = Rent::get()?;
let min_balance = rent.minimum_balance(vault.data_len());
require!(
    vault.lamports() >= amount + min_balance,
    ProgramError::InsufficientFunds
);

**vault.lamports.borrow_mut() -= amount;
**user.lamports.borrow_mut() += amount;

Alternative Mitigations

Use Checked Arithmetic

let new_balance = vault.lamports()
    .checked_sub(amount)
    .ok_or(ProgramError::InsufficientFunds)?;
require!(new_balance >= min_balance, ProgramError::InsufficientFunds);
**vault.lamports.borrow_mut() = new_balance;

Common Mistakes

Mistake: Checking Against Zero Only

// WRONG: allows draining below rent-exempt minimum
require!(vault.lamports() >= amount, ProgramError::InsufficientFunds);

Always account for rent-exempt minimum: balance - amount >= rent_minimum.

Mistake: Checking After Transfer

// WRONG: underflow already happened
**vault.lamports.borrow_mut() -= amount;
require!(vault.lamports() >= min_balance, Error::BelowRentExempt);

Always validate before mutation.

References