How much was lost in the AI C-3PO hack?

The AI C-3PO hack resulted in $150K in losses on July 11, 2023.

What attack technique was used in the AI C-3PO exploit?

The AI C-3PO exploit utilized Rugpull. Understanding this attack vector is critical for smart contract auditors and developers building secure DeFi protocols.

How can developers prevent similar smart contract attacks?

Preventing smart contract hacks requires a combination of secure coding practices, thorough security audits, and understanding common attack vectors like reentrancy, oracle manipulation, and access control flaws. Smart Contract Hacking (SCH) provides hands-on training to help developers and auditors identify and prevent vulnerabilities before deployment.

AI C-3PO Hack

TOTAL LOST $150K

Low Jul 11, 2023 Rugpull

Affected Chain 2023 Incident surface

Recovered - No recovery reported

All-Time Rank #1393 By amount stolen

Protocol Type Exit Scam/Rugpull Target category

Incident Overview

Quick Summary

The AI C-3PO token recently experienced a rug pull incident, leading to a significant loss of approximately $150,000 in WETH.

Details of the Exploit

The project team behind the AI C-3PO token executed the removal of liquidity from the Uniswap V2 DEX. As a result, they successfully withdrew and transferred a total equivalent of $150,000 USD, distributing the funds across four different wallets.

This sudden liquidity removal and token transfer event caught the community off guard, causing substantial financial losses to investors and holders of AI C-3PO token.

Block Data Reference

Contract Creator:

https://etherscan.io/address/0x0ff2aeb5…feb372

Remove liquidity tx:

https://etherscan.io/tx/0x58b6bd04…e03fa9

Incident Report

Protocol / Project AI C-3PO

Date of Incident July 11, 2023

Attack Technique Rugpull

Classification Token

Primary Source View Post-Mortem

Protocol Information

Protocol Type Exit Scam/Rugpull

Affected Token AI C-3PO

Protocol Twitter/X @aic3p0

Team Anonymous

Source Code Unverified

What the Attacker Needed to Succeed

Understanding the prerequisites for this type of attack helps auditors identify protocols that are most at risk and helps developers build better defenses.

Technical Knowledge Deep understanding of rugpull and Solidity and EVM internals

Capital Required Seed capital to cover gas and initial position setup

On-Chain Access Ability to interact with smart contracts and deploy a custom exploit contract

Protocol Analysis Identification of the exploitable vulnerability in AI C-3PO's contract logic - root cause: token

Execution Speed Precise transaction ordering and timing to exploit the vulnerability within a single atomic block

Obfuscation Plan A strategy to launder and move stolen funds - typically through mixers, cross-chain bridges, or decentralized DEX swaps to resist tracing

What Auditors Should Check

Could this have been caught in audit? Hard to catch — private key / OpSec failures are outside smart contract audit scope

If you're auditing a protocol with similar architecture to AI C-3PO, these are the critical security checks that could have prevented this incident (July 2023).

Verify all logic paths related to Rugpull are guarded by proper access controls and input validation
Review privileged functions (owner, admin, governance) for potential abuse vectors - centralization risks should be documented and bounded with timelocks or multi-sigs

Master these auditing techniques with hands-on labs and real exploit scenarios in the Smart Contract Hacking course.

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Sources & References

01
Source 1 https://twitter.com/DeDotFiSecurity/status/1678855995668287488?s=20

Threat Assessment

Severity Level

LOW

Attack Vector Rugpull
Root Cause Token
Year 2023

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