# Canceling an auction will result in a loss of borrower funds towards initiator fees

Astaria AuctionHouse charges initiator fees on the full reserve price at cancellation, double-charging fees already paid on the current bid, draining borrower funds.

- Payout: Contest reward
- Severity: high
- Program: Astaria
- Credited: 0xRajeev
- Disclosed: 2022-11-07
- Write-up quality: 6/10
- Original: https://github.com/sherlock-audit/2022-10-astaria-judging/issues/198
- Library page: https://bugbountylibrary.com/r/sherlock%3A2022-10-astaria%3AH-8
- Tags: domain:web3 impact:funds-loss kind:contest platform:sherlock sev:high technique:source-review vuln:accounting-error vuln:fee-bypass

**Target:** AuctionHouse.sol cancellation fee accounting
**Root cause:** Cancellation computes initiator fees on the entire reserve price rather than on the delta (reserve price - current bid), even though fees on the current bid were already paid.
**Steps:**
1. Open an auction with reserve price 10 ETH.
2. Bidder places a 9 ETH bid; initiator fee on 9 ETH is already accounted/paid.
3. Borrower cancels the auction; `transferAmount` is set to 10 ETH.
4. Cancellation logic charges initiator fees on the full 10 ETH instead of the 1 ETH delta.
5. Borrower overpays initiator fees, losing funds.
**How found:** Code review of AuctionHouse cancellation fee logic; noticed fee basis uses full reserve price while prior bid fees were already paid.
**Insight:** When a fee is charged incrementally on bids, check cancellation/settlement paths for recomputation on the full amount instead of the delta — double-charging is a common accounting bug.