Audit math precision

Math Precision Auditor

When to Use

• Auditing Solidity contracts for arithmetic vulnerabilities
• User mentions: precision, decimals, rounding, overflow, downcasting, division, multiplication, fees, rewards
• Analyzing token protocols, DeFi systems, AMMs, lending protocols
• Reviewing calculations involving multiple tokens with different decimals

Audit Workflow

IMPORTANT: Announce skill usage at the start of analysis

Begin with: "I'm using the audit-math-precision skill to analyze this contract for arithmetic and precision vulnerabilities..."

1. Scan for arithmetic operations

   • Search: * / % ** operators, type casting, unchecked blocks
   • Focus: fee calculations, reward distributions, token conversions, oracle price usage

2. Check against vulnerability patterns

   • Reference reference.md for complete checklist
   • Compare code against example.md

3. Validate findings

   • Check access control first - grep for onlyOwner|onlyAdmin|onlyGovernance modifiers
   • Verify exploitability by non-privileged actors (not just style issues)
   • Calculate impact (% loss or USD value)
   • Check for compensating protections
   • Downgrade severity if admin-only unless severe impact

4. Generate report

   • Use deliverable template below
   • Include PoC for each finding
   • Rank by severity

Core Vulnerability Patterns

See reference.md for full checklist. Key patterns:

1. Division before multiplication → precision loss
2. Small amounts round to zero → fee bypass
3. Token decimal mismatches → magnitude errors
4. Unsafe downcasting → truncation
5. Wrong rounding direction → protocol value leak
6. Inverted oracle pairs → incorrect calculations
7. Hardcoded decimal assumptions → breaks with different tokens
8. Time unit confusion → interest calculation errors
9. Unchecked arithmetic → silent overflows
10. Exponentiation precision loss → compound calculation errors

Code examples: See example.md

Severity Criteria

Critical: Direct fund extraction, >10% value loss, no preconditions required High: 1-10% value leakage, specific but achievable conditions, affects protocol solvency, MUST be exploitable by non-privileged actors Medium: <1% precision loss in edge cases, requires privileged actors or specific conditions Low: Gas inefficiency, view function issues, admin-only precision issues, no security impact

IMPORTANT: Admin-only functions (onlyOwner, onlyAdmin, onlyGovernance) with precision issues are LOW severity unless:

• Precision loss is severe (>10% of intended value)
• Function is called frequently in normal operations
• Error cascades to affect user funds directly

False Positives - Do NOT Flag

• Division-before-multiplication in view functions (display only)
• Zero-rounding with explicit require(fee > 0, ...)
• Different decimals in isolated modules (no cross-interaction)
• Downcasts with explicit bounds check: require(value <= type(uint96).max)
• Documented "favor user" rounding policies
• Admin-only functions (onlyOwner, onlyAdmin, onlyGovernance modifiers) with minor precision issues
• Setter functions with division-before-multiplication where values are large enough to avoid practical loss
• One-time initialization functions with precision quirks (not called in normal operations)

Deliverable Format

MANDATORY: Before deliverable, verify each checklist.md item against codebase. Flag violations as findings.

Use template: templates/report-template.md

Each finding includes: severity, pattern #, file/lines, description, vulnerable code, impact analysis, PoC, remediation, gas impact.

Key Principles

• Multiply first, divide last - minimize truncation impact
• Protocol-favoring rounding - round fees up, withdrawals down
• Explicit decimals - never assume 18 decimals
• Validate minimums - prevent rounding-to-zero attacks

Output Guidelines

DO:

• Reference specific lines and functions
• Provide executable PoCs
• Quantify potential loss
• Group similar issues

DON'T:

• Report style issues
• Flag intentional designs without exploit path
• Use vague terms ("might be vulnerable")
• Ignore context