Approval Hacks & Exploits

Over $3.5M was stolen from users of the popular DEX SushiSwap. The vulnerability only concerns a recently deployed Sushiswap contract, so only users who interacted with the exchange between the 1st and the 9th of April are affected.

Over $8.2M was stolen from users of BSCex / SwapX, a DEX on Binance Smart Chain. Vulnerabilities were found in four old contracts belonging to the DEX. Many users still have active allowances to these contracts, even though they haven't used it for a long time.

Over $2M was stolen from users of Dexible, a DEX aggregator. Hackers exploited a vulnerability that allowed them to provide their own Router contract, which they programmed to steal all approved user funds.

About $30k was stolen from users of Revert Finance. Hackers were able to execute arbitrary code from the context of the vulnerable contract, allowing them to transfer approved user funds.

Over $1.4M was stolen from the users of cross-chain DEX Rubic. Hackers were able to exploit active allowances because the USDC contract was mistakenly added as a whitelisted "Router contract". The Rubic team has compensated affected users.

Around $7k was stolen from a select number of users of Polynomial Protocol, a derivatives platform on Optimism. Since this contract was no used for all functionality, only a few users were affected. Polynomial Protocol reimbursed the affected users.

Around $90k was stolen from users of Brahma, a cross-chain DeFi protocol. Hackers were able to exploit a vulnerability due to incorrect access control.

Over $1.1M was stolen from users of the BitKeep Wallet. Hackers were able to abuse unlimited allowances to steal approved user funds on Binance Smart Chain ans Polygon. The BitKeep reimbursed affected users.

About $200k was stolen from users of the Rabby Wallet. Only users who used the wallet's Swap function and have active allowances are at risk.

Over $21M was stolen from users of Transit Swap, a DEX on Ethereum and Binance Smart Chain. Any wallets with active allowances to these smart contracts are at risk.

Over $200k was stolen from users of Celer. Hackers were able to compromise their official website and inject malicious code into it. This malicious code requested users to approve unlimited allowances to the hackers' wallets.

Over $500k was stolen from users of the popular DEX Curve. Hackers were able to compromise their official website and inject malicious code into it. They injected malicious approval transactions into the frontend, draining users' wallets. Anyone that interacted with the Curve frontend on the 9th of August is at risk.

Over $400k was stolen from users of PREMINT, a popular NFT platform. Hackers were able to compromise their official website and inject malicious code into it. This malicious code requested users to approve unlimited allowances to the hackers' wallets.

Over $200k was stolen from users of Quixotic, an NFT marketplace on Optimism. The contract allowed malicious actors to sell worthless NFTs to victims for high prices due to missing signature verifications. The smart contract is now paused, but it is still recommended to revoke allowances.

Over $500k was stolen from users of several popular dapps, including Convex, Ribbon, and DeFiSaver. Hackers were able to access these webites' Namecheap settings to inject malicious code into the websites. This malicious code requested users to approve unlimited allowances to the hackers' wallets.

Over $2.5M was rescued from a vulnerable Zapper contract. The Zapper team was notified of the vulnerability by whitehat hackers and were able to rescue the approved user funds. After revoking active allowances, users were reimbursed their funds.

Over $1.2M was stolen from users of BasketDAO, a DeFi protocol for creating token baskets. Two of their contracts contained vulnerabilities that allowed hackers to steal approved user funds. Since then, BasketDAO has shut down and was acquired by another DeFi protocol, PieDAO.

Around $600k was stolen from users of LI.FI, a cross-chain bridge and DEX aggregator. Hackers exploited a vulnerability that allowed them to execute arbitrary functions from the context of the smart contract, including transactions that drained approved user funds. LI.FI has since then patched the vulnerability and reimbursed affected users.

Over $3M was stolen by hackers that exploited a bug in the contracts of Multichain (formerly Anyswap), a cross-chain swap router. Any wallets that approved allowances to their smart contracts are at risk.

About $26M was rescued from a vulnerable Sorbet Finance smart contract. The team was able to drain all vulnerable funds and has placed it in a special escrow smart contract, where the original owners can reclaim them. Active allowances must be revoked before receiving refunds.

Over $120M was stolen from users of BadgerDAO, a popular DeFi platform. Hackers were able to compromise their official website and inject malicious code into it. This malicious code requested users to approve unlimited allowances to the hackers' wallets.

About $2M was rescued from a vulnerable dYdX smart contract. The team was able to drain all vulnerable funds and has been refunding users once they revoke their active allowances. Despite their efforts, hackers were still able to steal just over $200k, which the dYdX team has reimbursed out of their own pocket.

Over $55M was stolen from users of DeFi platform bXz. Hackers gained access to the private keys of an admin account and deployed a malicious update to bZx' smart contracts. This new code allowed them to drain bZx' contracts and all approved user funds. This was the final nail in the coffin for bZx, which was exploited multiple times before.

Over $27M was stolen from users of StableMagnet, a DEX on Binance Smart Chain. The StableMagnet team built a backdoor into their smart contract that allowed them to drain the funds in liquidity pools and from users with active allowances.

Over $14M was stolen from users of Furucombo, an app that helps users compose DeFi transactions. Hackers were able to trick the Furucombo governance to whitelist a scam contract, which was subsequently able to drain all approved user funds.

About $500k was rescued from a vulnerable Bancor contract. A vulnerability was discovered by the 1inch team and reported to Bancor. Most of the vulnerable funds were saved by the Bancor team, but just over $100k was still taken by automated front-running bots.