fix: show the true token amount on the approval screen, or none at all (closes #306)

decodeCalldata resolved an ERC-20 amount's scale from the 512-entry bundled
token list alone and fell back to 18 decimals for everything else. Most tokens
are outside that list, including anything the user added by contract address, so
a transfer of 5000000000 units of a 6-decimal token - 5,000 tokens - was drawn as
"Amount 0.0000". A user who reads zero confirms, and loses the balance or grants
the allowance.

The new src/shared/approvalAmount.js resolves decimals from the bundled list,
then state.trackedTokens, then the decimals the block explorer already reported
in addr.tokenBalances, accepting only a real uint8 from any of them and refusing
a scale the explorer's own entries disagree about.

Where no source knows the scale the amount is not formatted at all: the line
reads "5000000000 base units (decimals unknown)". A formatted number computed
from a guessed scale is the defect itself, and for a token with fewer decimals
than the guess it is wrong in the direction that reads as zero. approve is
covered alongside transfer; an unbounded allowance still reads "Unlimited",
which needs no scale. The same string is carried to the status screens, so no
formatted figure reappears downstream.

Verified failing first: restoring only the old lookup fails 6 of the 15 new
tests, with the unknown-decimals transfer case receiving exactly "0.0000".

TODO.md

@@ -44,6 +44,20 @@ but the review is broader than any of them.
 
 # Completed Steps
 
+- 2026-08-20: The dApp approval screen no longer shows a token transfer it
+  cannot scale as `0.0000`
+  ([#306](https://git.eeqj.de/sneak/AutistMask/issues/306)). `decodeCalldata`
+  read decimals from the 512-entry bundled token list alone and fell back to 18,
+  so every token outside it — most of them, including anything the user added by
+  contract address — was displayed at the wrong scale: a `transfer` of 5,000
+  units of a 6-decimal token read as `0.0000`, and a user who reads zero
+  confirms the drain. The new `src/shared/approvalAmount.js` resolves the scale
+  from the bundled list, then `state.trackedTokens`, then the decimals the block
+  explorer already reported in `addr.tokenBalances`, and refuses one the
+  explorer's own entries disagree about. Where no source knows it, the amount
+  line is not formatted at all: it shows the base-unit integer and states that
+  the scale is unknown, for `approve` as well as `transfer`. An unbounded
+  allowance still reads `Unlimited`, which needs no scale.
 - 2026-08-20: A web page can no longer switch the wallet's chain, and switching
   no longer destroys the user's endpoints
   ([#308](https://git.eeqj.de/sneak/AutistMask/issues/308)).

src/popup/views/approval.js

@@ -21,6 +21,10 @@ const {
 const { getPrice, formatUsd } = require("../../shared/prices");
 const { ERC20_ABI } = require("../../shared/constants");
 const { TOKEN_BY_ADDRESS } = require("../../shared/tokenList");
+const {
+    resolveTokenDecimals,
+    unknownDecimalsAmount,
+} = require("../../shared/approvalAmount");
 const { decryptWithPassword } = require("../../shared/vault");
 const { getSignerForAddress } = require("../../shared/wallet");
 const { walletDefect } = require("../../shared/walletDefects");
@@ -43,6 +47,23 @@ function formatTxValue(val) {
     return parts[0] + "." + dec;
 }
 
+// The amount line for a decoded ERC-20 call. With a known scale it is the
+// token quantity; with `decimals` null it is the base-unit integer with the
+// unknown scale stated, because formatting it with an assumed scale is what
+// showed a 5,000-token transfer as `0.0000`. `raw` is what the status screens
+// carry, `display` is what the approval screen shows.
+function tokenAmountText(rawAmount, decimals, symbol) {
+    if (decimals === null) {
+        const unknown = unknownDecimalsAmount(rawAmount);
+        return { raw: unknown, display: unknown };
+    }
+    const formatted = formatTxValue(formatUnits(rawAmount, decimals));
+    return {
+        raw: formatted,
+        display: formatted + (symbol ? " " + symbol : ""),
+    };
+}
+
 function tokenLabel(address) {
     const t = TOKEN_BY_ADDRESS.get(address.toLowerCase());
     return t ? t.symbol : null;
@@ -59,7 +80,15 @@ function decodeCalldata(data, toAddress) {
         if (parsed) {
             const token = TOKEN_BY_ADDRESS.get(toAddress.toLowerCase());
             const tokenSymbol = token ? token.symbol : null;
-            const tokenDecimals = token ? token.decimals : 18;
+            // null when no source knows this token's scale. It is not
+            // defaulted to 18: an amount formatted with a guessed scale is
+            // the wrong number, and for a token with fewer decimals than the
+            // guess it is the wrong number in the direction that reads as
+            // zero. See tokenAmountText().
+            const tokenDecimals = resolveTokenDecimals(toAddress, {
+                trackedTokens: state.trackedTokens,
+                wallets: state.wallets,
+            });
             const contractLabel = tokenSymbol
                 ? tokenSymbol + " (" + toAddress + ")"
                 : toAddress;
@@ -71,12 +100,11 @@ function decodeCalldata(data, toAddress) {
                     "0xffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff",
                 );
                 const isUnlimited = rawAmount === maxUint;
-                const amountRaw = isUnlimited
-                    ? "Unlimited"
-                    : formatTxValue(formatUnits(rawAmount, tokenDecimals));
-                const amountStr = isUnlimited
-                    ? "Unlimited"
-                    : amountRaw + (tokenSymbol ? " " + tokenSymbol : "");
+                // An unbounded allowance needs no scale to describe, so it is
+                // still named rather than refused.
+                const amount = isUnlimited
+                    ? { raw: "Unlimited", display: "Unlimited" }
+                    : tokenAmountText(rawAmount, tokenDecimals, tokenSymbol);
 
                 return {
                     name: "Token Approval",
@@ -97,8 +125,8 @@ function decodeCalldata(data, toAddress) {
                         },
                         {
                             label: "Amount",
-                            value: amountStr,
-                            rawValue: amountRaw,
+                            value: amount.display,
+                            rawValue: amount.raw,
                         },
                     ],
                 };
@@ -107,11 +135,11 @@ function decodeCalldata(data, toAddress) {
             if (parsed.name === "transfer") {
                 const to = parsed.args[0];
                 const rawAmount = parsed.args[1];
-                const amountRaw = formatTxValue(
-                    formatUnits(rawAmount, tokenDecimals),
+                const amount = tokenAmountText(
+                    rawAmount,
+                    tokenDecimals,
+                    tokenSymbol,
                 );
-                const amountStr =
-                    amountRaw + (tokenSymbol ? " " + tokenSymbol : "");
 
                 return {
                     name: "Token Transfer",
@@ -128,8 +156,8 @@ function decodeCalldata(data, toAddress) {
                         { label: "Recipient", value: to, address: to },
                         {
                             label: "Amount",
-                            value: amountStr,
-                            rawValue: amountRaw,
+                            value: amount.display,
+                            rawValue: amount.raw,
                         },
                     ],
                 };

src/shared/approvalAmount.js

@@ -0,0 +1,103 @@
+// The scale an ERC-20 amount in a dApp's calldata is displayed with, and what
+// to display when there is no such scale.
+//
+// The approval screen decodes `transfer` and `approve` calldata into a
+// quantity the user confirms against. That quantity is a base-unit integer,
+// and turning it into a number a person can read needs the token's decimals.
+// Assuming a scale is how a drain gets confirmed: a `transfer` of 5000000000
+// units of a 6-decimal token is 5,000 tokens, but formatted with the ERC-20
+// default of 18 it reads `0.0000`, and a user who reads zero signs.
+//
+// So a scale is either found or the amount is not formatted. Decimals are
+// looked for in the bundled token list, then in the tokens the user tracks,
+// then in what the block explorer reported for the contract; where none of
+// them answers, unknownDecimalsAmount() renders the base-unit integer with the
+// unknown scale stated, and no formatUnits() call is reached at all.
+//
+// This is the display counterpart to transferAmount.js, which takes the same
+// stance on the wallet's own send path: an amount whose scale is unknown or
+// disputed is refused rather than guessed at.
+
+// Solidity's decimals() is a uint8, and every source here is ultimately
+// reporting that call's result.
+const { MAX_DECIMALS } = require("./transferAmount");
+const { TOKEN_BY_ADDRESS } = require("./tokenList");
+
+// A decimals value as a number, or null if it is not one. The bundled list
+// stores numbers, the explorer's copy arrives as a string, and a token the
+// user added by hand can carry whatever lookupTokenInfo() got back, so the
+// accepted types are enumerated rather than coerced: Number([]) is 0 and
+// Number(true) is 1, so a coercing check would read an empty array as a scale
+// of zero and format the amount as whole tokens.
+function toDecimals(value) {
+    let n;
+    if (typeof value === "number") {
+        n = value;
+    } else if (typeof value === "bigint") {
+        if (value < 0n || value > BigInt(MAX_DECIMALS)) return null;
+        n = Number(value);
+    } else if (typeof value === "string") {
+        if (!/^[0-9]+$/.test(value)) return null;
+        n = Number(value);
+    } else {
+        return null;
+    }
+    if (!Number.isInteger(n) || n < 0 || n > MAX_DECIMALS) return null;
+    return n;
+}
+
+// Every decimals the explorer reported for this contract, across all the
+// addresses whose balances have been fetched. They describe one contract, so
+// they should agree; a set that does not agree is a scale in dispute, and this
+// screen has no way to tell which member is the true one.
+function explorerDecimals(lower, wallets) {
+    let found = null;
+    for (const wallet of wallets || []) {
+        for (const addr of wallet.addresses || []) {
+            for (const tb of addr.tokenBalances || []) {
+                if ((tb.address || "").toLowerCase() !== lower) continue;
+                const d = toDecimals(tb.decimals);
+                if (d === null) continue;
+                if (found !== null && found !== d) return null;
+                found = d;
+            }
+        }
+    }
+    return found;
+}
+
+// The decimals to render a token amount with, or null when nothing knows.
+// `sources` is { trackedTokens, wallets }, both shaped as they are on `state`.
+function resolveTokenDecimals(tokenAddress, sources) {
+    const lower = (tokenAddress || "").toLowerCase();
+    if (!lower) return null;
+
+    const bundled = TOKEN_BY_ADDRESS.get(lower);
+    if (bundled) {
+        const d = toDecimals(bundled.decimals);
+        if (d !== null) return d;
+    }
+
+    const tracked = ((sources && sources.trackedTokens) || []).find(
+        (t) => (t.address || "").toLowerCase() === lower,
+    );
+    if (tracked) {
+        const d = toDecimals(tracked.decimals);
+        if (d !== null) return d;
+    }
+
+    return explorerDecimals(lower, sources && sources.wallets);
+}
+
+// What the amount line reads when the scale is unknown. The base units are
+// exact and the caveat is part of the same string, so the number on the screen
+// cannot be mistaken for a token quantity, and it can never read as zero for a
+// transfer that is not zero.
+function unknownDecimalsAmount(rawAmount) {
+    return String(rawAmount) + " base units (decimals unknown)";
+}
+
+module.exports = {
+    resolveTokenDecimals,
+    unknownDecimalsAmount,
+};

tests/approvalAmount.test.js

@@ -0,0 +1,208 @@
+// The quantity the dApp approval screen shows for a decoded ERC-20 call.
+//
+// The screen's amount line is the only place a user sees how much a page is
+// asking for, and it is decoded from calldata, which carries base units and
+// no scale. Issue #306: decodeCalldata read decimals from the bundled token
+// list alone and fell back to 18, so a `transfer` of 5000000000 units of a
+// 6-decimal token — 5,000 tokens — was displayed as `0.0000` and confirmed.
+//
+// What is asserted here is that the scale is found wherever the wallet
+// already has it, and that where it is nowhere at all no formatted number is
+// produced: the amount line has to say base units and say the scale is
+// unknown, because a wrong quantity that reads as zero is worse than an
+// unwieldy correct one.
+
+globalThis.chrome = {
+    storage: { local: { get: async () => ({}), set: async () => {} } },
+};
+
+const { Interface } = require("ethers");
+const { ERC20_ABI } = require("../src/shared/constants");
+const { state } = require("../src/shared/state");
+const {
+    resolveTokenDecimals,
+    unknownDecimalsAmount,
+} = require("../src/shared/approvalAmount");
+const { decodeCalldata } = require("../src/popup/views/approval");
+
+const iface = new Interface(ERC20_ABI);
+
+// Outside the bundled list, as the great majority of ERC-20s are.
+const NOVEL_TOKEN = "0xE2E0000000000000000000000000000000000E2e";
+// In the bundled list, at 6 decimals.
+const USDC = "0xA0b86991c6218b36c1d19D4a2e9Eb0cE3606eB48";
+const RECIPIENT = "0xC0FfEE0000000000000000000000000000c0fFEe";
+const SPENDER = "0x1111111111111111111111111111111111111111";
+
+// 5,000 units of a 6-decimal token, the amount from the issue.
+const FIVE_THOUSAND_AT_SIX = 5000000000n;
+const MAX_UINT256 = (1n << 256n) - 1n;
+
+function transferData(amount) {
+    return iface.encodeFunctionData("transfer", [RECIPIENT, amount]);
+}
+
+function approveData(amount) {
+    return iface.encodeFunctionData("approve", [SPENDER, amount]);
+}
+
+// The Amount line as the approval screen renders it.
+function amountLine(data, tokenAddress) {
+    const decoded = decodeCalldata(data, tokenAddress);
+    const detail = decoded.details.find((d) => d.label === "Amount");
+    return detail.value;
+}
+
+// A wallet holding `token` with the decimals the block explorer reported,
+// shaped as balances.js writes it onto state.
+function walletsHolding(token, decimals) {
+    return [
+        {
+            name: "Wallet 1",
+            addresses: [
+                {
+                    address: "0x" + "a".repeat(40),
+                    balance: "1.0",
+                    tokenBalances: [
+                        {
+                            address: token,
+                            symbol: "NOVEL",
+                            decimals,
+                            balance: "5000.0",
+                        },
+                    ],
+                },
+            ],
+        },
+    ];
+}
+
+beforeEach(() => {
+    state.trackedTokens = [];
+    state.wallets = [];
+});
+
+describe("resolveTokenDecimals", () => {
+    test("prefers the bundled list", () => {
+        state.trackedTokens = [{ address: USDC, symbol: "USDC", decimals: 2 }];
+        expect(resolveTokenDecimals(USDC, state)).toBe(6);
+    });
+
+    test("reads a token the user tracks", () => {
+        state.trackedTokens = [
+            {
+                address: NOVEL_TOKEN.toLowerCase(),
+                symbol: "NOVEL",
+                decimals: 6,
+            },
+        ];
+        expect(resolveTokenDecimals(NOVEL_TOKEN, state)).toBe(6);
+    });
+
+    test("reads the decimals the explorer reported", () => {
+        // Blockscout's copy arrives as a string.
+        state.wallets = walletsHolding(NOVEL_TOKEN, "6");
+        expect(resolveTokenDecimals(NOVEL_TOKEN, state)).toBe(6);
+    });
+
+    test("falls past a tracked entry whose decimals are unusable", () => {
+        state.trackedTokens = [
+            { address: NOVEL_TOKEN, symbol: "NOVEL", decimals: NaN },
+        ];
+        state.wallets = walletsHolding(NOVEL_TOKEN, 6);
+        expect(resolveTokenDecimals(NOVEL_TOKEN, state)).toBe(6);
+    });
+
+    test("refuses a scale the explorer's own entries disagree about", () => {
+        const wallets = walletsHolding(NOVEL_TOKEN, 6);
+        wallets[0].addresses.push({
+            address: "0x" + "b".repeat(40),
+            balance: "0.0",
+            tokenBalances: [
+                { address: NOVEL_TOKEN, symbol: "NOVEL", decimals: 18 },
+            ],
+        });
+        state.wallets = wallets;
+        expect(resolveTokenDecimals(NOVEL_TOKEN, state)).toBeNull();
+    });
+
+    test("rejects values that are not a uint8", () => {
+        for (const decimals of [-1, 256, 1.5, true, [], {}, null, "6.0", ""]) {
+            state.trackedTokens = [{ address: NOVEL_TOKEN, decimals }];
+            expect(resolveTokenDecimals(NOVEL_TOKEN, state)).toBeNull();
+        }
+    });
+
+    test("is null when nothing knows the token", () => {
+        expect(resolveTokenDecimals(NOVEL_TOKEN, state)).toBeNull();
+    });
+});
+
+describe("decodeCalldata amount", () => {
+    test("transfer of a tracked 6-decimal token shows the true quantity", () => {
+        state.trackedTokens = [
+            { address: NOVEL_TOKEN, symbol: "NOVEL", decimals: 6 },
+        ];
+        expect(
+            amountLine(transferData(FIVE_THOUSAND_AT_SIX), NOVEL_TOKEN),
+        ).toBe("5000.0000");
+    });
+
+    test("transfer priced off the explorer's decimals shows the true quantity", () => {
+        state.wallets = walletsHolding(NOVEL_TOKEN, "6");
+        expect(
+            amountLine(transferData(FIVE_THOUSAND_AT_SIX), NOVEL_TOKEN),
+        ).toBe("5000.0000");
+    });
+
+    test("transfer of an unknown-decimals token shows base units, not a number", () => {
+        const line = amountLine(
+            transferData(FIVE_THOUSAND_AT_SIX),
+            NOVEL_TOKEN,
+        );
+        expect(line).toBe("5000000000 base units (decimals unknown)");
+        expect(line).toBe(unknownDecimalsAmount(FIVE_THOUSAND_AT_SIX));
+        // The defect: any rendering that reads as a token quantity, and above
+        // all one that reads as zero.
+        expect(line).not.toMatch(/0\.0000/);
+    });
+
+    test("approve of a tracked 6-decimal token shows the true quantity", () => {
+        state.trackedTokens = [
+            { address: NOVEL_TOKEN, symbol: "NOVEL", decimals: 6 },
+        ];
+        expect(amountLine(approveData(FIVE_THOUSAND_AT_SIX), NOVEL_TOKEN)).toBe(
+            "5000.0000",
+        );
+    });
+
+    test("approve of an unknown-decimals token shows base units, not a number", () => {
+        const line = amountLine(approveData(FIVE_THOUSAND_AT_SIX), NOVEL_TOKEN);
+        expect(line).toBe("5000000000 base units (decimals unknown)");
+        expect(line).not.toMatch(/0\.0000/);
+    });
+
+    test("an unbounded allowance is still named, with or without a scale", () => {
+        expect(amountLine(approveData(MAX_UINT256), NOVEL_TOKEN)).toBe(
+            "Unlimited",
+        );
+        expect(amountLine(approveData(MAX_UINT256), USDC)).toBe("Unlimited");
+    });
+
+    test("a bundled token keeps its symbol and its scale", () => {
+        expect(amountLine(transferData(FIVE_THOUSAND_AT_SIX), USDC)).toBe(
+            "5000.0000 USDC",
+        );
+    });
+
+    test("the amount carried to the status screens is the same string", () => {
+        const decoded = decodeCalldata(
+            transferData(FIVE_THOUSAND_AT_SIX),
+            NOVEL_TOKEN,
+        );
+        const detail = decoded.details.find((d) => d.label === "Amount");
+        expect(detail.rawValue).toBe(
+            "5000000000 base units (decimals unknown)",
+        );
+    });
+});