MEME COIN & TOKEN SECURITY AUDIT
Fast-kill rug pull detection and deep token security analysis for EVM and Solana meme coins.
PRE-DIVE KILL SIGNALS
Check these BEFORE reading a single line of code. If any are true, skip the audit — the token is likely a rug or not worth the time.
Hard Kills (Skip Immediately)
- Contract not verified on Etherscan/Solscan → Cannot audit source = cannot trust
- Deployer wallet has history of rug pulls (check Etherscan deployer page)
- Token age < 1 hour AND no known team → Too early, wait for more data
- Mint authority retained (Solana) AND no cap → Infinite mint = certain rug
- Freeze authority retained (Solana) on meme coin → Honeypot confirmed
- Transfer hook present (Token-2022) with mutable hook program → Honeypot vector
- Permanent delegate extension (Token-2022) → Can steal all holder tokens
Soft Kills (Proceed with Extreme Caution)
- Top holder > 20% of supply (excluding DEX pools)
- LP not burned or locked in verified contract
- Contract is upgradeable / proxy with retained admin
- Less than $5K liquidity in the pool
- No social presence / anonymous deployer with no history
THE ONE RULE
"Check ALL authorities and owner functions. The retained authority IS the rug vector."
Every rug pull requires a privileged operation: mint, blacklist, fee change, LP removal, or authority abuse. If you find the privilege, you found the bug.
BUG CLASSES (8 TOKEN-SPECIFIC)
1. HIDDEN MINT / UNLIMITED SUPPLY
35% of meme coin rugs. Deployer mints tokens post-launch, dumps on LP.
Quick grep (EVM):
bashgrep -rn "function mint\|_mint(\|_balances\[.*\] +=" src/ --include="*.sol" | grep -v "test\|lib\|node_modules"
Quick grep (Solana):
bashgrep -rn "MintTo\|mint_to\|mint_authority" src/ --include="*.rs" | grep -v "test\|target"
Kill if: MAX_SUPPLY enforced in every mint path, or mint function removed entirely.
2. HONEYPOT / TRANSFER RESTRICTION
25% of meme coin scams. Buy works, sell blocked.
Quick grep:
bashgrep -rn "blacklist\|isBlacklisted\|_bots\|maxTxAmount\|approve.*override\|tradingEnabled" src/ --include="*.sol"
Solana equivalent:
bashgrep -rn "freeze_authority\|transfer_hook\|TransferHook\|permanent_delegate" src/ --include="*.rs"
Kill if: No blacklist mapping, no transfer hooks, no freeze authority.
3. FEE MANIPULATION
20% of rugs. Sell fee set to 99% after initial buys.
Quick grep:
bashgrep -rn "setFee\|setSellFee\|_taxFee\|_sellFee" src/ --include="*.sol" grep -rn "function set.*Fee" -A5 src/ --include="*.sol" | grep -v "require\|MAX\|<="
Kill if: Fee setter has require(fee <= MAX_FEE) with MAX_FEE <= 10%.
4. LIQUIDITY POOL DRAIN
LP removal, migration, or manipulation to crash price.
Quick grep:
bashgrep -rn "migrateLP\|emergencyWithdraw\|\.sync()\|setPair\|setRouter" src/ --include="*.sol"
Kill if: LP tokens burned to dead address, no migration function, no pair setter.
5. BONDING CURVE MANIPULATION
Exploits in pump.fun-style bonding curves.
Quick grep:
bashgrep -rn "virtualReserve\|setCurve\|graduate\|bonding_curve" src/ --include="*.sol" --include="*.rs"
Kill if: Curve parameters immutable, graduation permissionless.
6. AUTHORITY RETENTION (SOLANA)
Retained mint/freeze/update authorities on Solana tokens.
Quick grep:
bashgrep -rn "mint_authority\|freeze_authority\|update_authority\|close_authority" src/ --include="*.rs" grep -rn "set_authority.*None" src/ --include="*.rs" # Good sign: revocation
Kill if: All authorities = None, verified on-chain.
7. FAKE RENOUNCE / HIDDEN OWNERSHIP
Ownership appears renounced but backdoor control retained.
Quick grep:
bashgrep -rn "renounceOwnership.*override\|_shadowAdmin\|_backupOwner\|selfdestruct" src/ --include="*.sol"
Kill if: renounceOwnership NOT overridden, no second admin role, no selfdestruct.
8. SANDWICH AMPLIFICATION BY DESIGN
Contract makes holders maximally sandwichable.
Quick grep:
bashgrep -rn "swapExactTokensForETH" -A5 src/ --include="*.sol" | grep "0," grep -rn "swapThreshold\|_rebase\|mandatoryPool" src/ --include="*.sol"
Kill if: Auto-swap has proper slippage, no rebase mechanics.
AUTOMATED SCANNER
Run the token scanner tool for fast red flag detection:
bash# EVM token python3 tools/token_scanner.py contracts/Token.sol # Solana program python3 tools/token_scanner.py programs/token/ --chain solana --recursive # Full directory scan with report python3 tools/token_scanner.py src/ --recursive --output findings/token-report.md
The scanner checks all 8 bug classes via regex patterns. It catches:
- Direct mint/balance manipulation
- Blacklist and transfer restriction patterns
- Unbounded fee setters
- LP migration and emergency withdraw functions
- Fake renounce overrides
- Zero slippage auto-swaps
- All Solana authority patterns
- Token-2022 dangerous extensions
Scanner does NOT check:
- On-chain state (use Etherscan/Solscan for authority verification)
- Holder distribution (use DEXTools/Birdeye)
- LP lock status (use Unicrypt/PinkLock/Solscan)
- Deployer wallet history (manual check)
FOUNDRY POC TEMPLATE (TOKEN EXPLOITS)
solidity// SPDX-License-Identifier: MIT pragma solidity ^0.8.0; import "forge-std/Test.sol"; import "../src/Token.sol"; contract TokenExploitTest is Test { Token token; address owner = makeAddr("owner"); address victim = makeAddr("victim"); address attacker = makeAddr("attacker"); // Uniswap V2 router (mainnet fork) address constant ROUTER = 0x7a250d5630B4cF539739dF2C5dAcb4c659F2488D; address constant WETH = 0xC02aaA39b223FE8D0A0e5C4F27eAD9083C756Cc2; function setUp() public { vm.createSelectFork("mainnet"); // Deploy token as owner vm.startPrank(owner); token = new Token(); // Add liquidity... vm.stopPrank(); } function test_hiddenMint_rug() public { // Step 1: Victim buys tokens vm.startPrank(victim); // ... buy tokens on Uniswap vm.stopPrank(); // Step 2: Owner mints and dumps vm.startPrank(owner); uint256 supplyBefore = token.totalSupply(); token.mint(owner, 1_000_000_000e18); assertGt(token.totalSupply(), supplyBefore, "Supply should increase"); // ... sell minted tokens vm.stopPrank(); // Step 3: Victim's tokens are now worthless // Assert token price crashed } function test_honeypot_blacklist() public { // Step 1: Victim buys vm.startPrank(victim); // ... buy tokens vm.stopPrank(); // Step 2: Owner blacklists victim vm.startPrank(owner); token.blacklist(victim); vm.stopPrank(); // Step 3: Victim cannot sell vm.startPrank(victim); vm.expectRevert("Blacklisted"); token.transfer(address(1), 100e18); vm.stopPrank(); } function test_fee_manipulation_rug() public { // Step 1: Verify initial fee is low assertEq(token.sellFee(), 3); // 3% // Step 2: Owner sets fee to 99% vm.prank(owner); token.setFees(3, 99); // Buy 3%, Sell 99% // Step 3: Victim sells — loses 99% to fees vm.startPrank(victim); uint256 balanceBefore = address(victim).balance; // ... sell tokens // Assert: received almost nothing vm.stopPrank(); } }
SOLANA QUICK CHECKS (NO SOURCE CODE NEEDED)
When you don't have source code, check on-chain:
1. MINT AUTHORITY → solana account <MINT> --output json | check mint_authority - Should be null - If Some(pubkey) → CRITICAL: can mint infinite tokens 2. FREEZE AUTHORITY → same as above, check freeze_authority - Should be null - If Some(pubkey) → CRITICAL: honeypot 3. LP STATUS → Check Raydium/Orca pool - LP burned? (tokens sent to 1111...1111) - LP locked? (in verified locker with no backdoor) - LP held by deployer? → CRITICAL: instant rug 4. TOP HOLDERS → Birdeye/Solscan holders tab - Top 10 < 30% of supply (excluding pools) - Creator wallets (check first transactions) 5. PROGRAM UPGRADEABILITY - Is the program upgradeable? → can change any logic - Upgrade authority should be None for immutable programs 6. TOKEN-2022 EXTENSIONS - Any transfer hook? → potential honeypot - Permanent delegate? → CRITICAL
FULL REFERENCE FILES
For deep dives into specific areas:
web3/10-meme-coin-bugs.md— All 8 bug classes with full code examples and variantsweb3/11-solana-token-audit.md— Solana-specific: SPL authorities, Token-2022, pump.fun, Raydium, Jupiterweb3/12-dex-lp-attacks.md— DEX & LP manipulation patterns (sandwich, pool sniping, CL position attacks)

