How much was lost in the ApolloX hack?

The ApolloX hack resulted in $2.2M in losses on June 08, 2022.

What attack technique was used in the ApolloX exploit?

The ApolloX exploit utilized Other. 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.

ApolloX Hack

TOTAL LOST $2.2M

Medium Jun 08, 2022 Other

Affected Chain 2022 Incident surface

Recovered - No recovery reported

All-Time Rank #632 By amount stolen

Auditors 1 Prior security audit

Incident Overview

ApolloX has been exploited for ~$2.1M. The attacker took advantage of the vulnerability of the claim() function. When attacker received about 53 Million $APX tokens from the contract, then swapped them via PancakeSwap for $BUSD.

Exploiter address: https://bscscan.com/address/0xd2419bcc…ba9a49

Victim address: https://bscscan.com/address/0xe2e912f0…06cd99

Exploiter contracts:

1) https://bscscan.com/address/0x44e3b1a3…ba7e69

2) https://bscscan.com/address/0x9f933f42…fce7a9

3) https://bscscan.com/address/0x62a497f6…393723

4) https://bscscan.com/address/0x39e0332f…274ab0

5) https://bscscan.com/address/0x85ad483d…ed0872

6) https://bscscan.com/address/0xcc6eedeb…e29956

Exploit transactions:

1) https://bscscan.com/tx/0x21e5e6ee…10e5f7

2) https://bscscan.com/tx/0x67a90c1a…386926

3) https://bscscan.com/tx/0xccc9e8eb…05aee0

4) https://bscscan.com/tx/0x34b29a39…fbbc8c

1) https://bscscan.com/tx/0xc2607de5…a440de

2) https://bscscan.com/tx/0xe944b576…707f53

3) https://bscscan.com/tx/0x55c45952…758cc6

4) https://bscscan.com/tx/0x57030b6e…630b94

5) https://bscscan.com/tx/0xf25688d3…1f8ec0

6) https://bscscan.com/tx/0xdf7e67aa…a34284

7) https://bscscan.com/tx/0x72c7c6b8…80be02

8) https://bscscan.com/tx/0x902ebbe7…5b83c0

Tokens swapped to ZAP bridge:

1) https://bscscan.com/tx/0x3d141a94…b16f71

2) https://bscscan.com/tx/ 0x07e44384…8b1d28

3) https://bscscan.com/tx/ 0x25ee8fc7…5b64f2

Then tokens were transferred to https://etherscan.io/address/0x9e532b19…68f261#tokentxns

Incident Report

Protocol / Project ApolloX

Date of Incident June 08, 2022

Attack Technique Other

Classification Exchange (DEX)

Primary Source View Post-Mortem

Protocol Information

Protocol Type Synthetics

Affected Token APX

Official Website www.apollox.com/en

Protocol Twitter/X @ApolloX_com

Team Anonymous

Source Code Verified On-Chain

Market Context at Time of Hack

Token Categories

YZi Labs Portfolio MVB BNB Chain Ecosystem Real World Assets Protocols Binance Alpha Binance Wallet IDO Binance Ecosystem

Protocol Links

Discord

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 other 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 ApolloX's contract logic - root cause: exchange (dex)

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? Likely — with a thorough Other audit checklist and test coverage

Audited by Certik — still lost $2.2M. Prior audits don't guarantee safety, especially after post-audit code changes.

If you're auditing a protocol with similar architecture to ApolloX, these are the critical security checks that could have prevented this incident (June 2022).

Verify all logic paths related to Other 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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Security Audit History

Certik 2022-01-27 Report

Sources & References

01
Source 1 https://twitter.com/ApolloX_com/status/1534570239177789440

Threat Assessment

Severity Level

MEDIUM

Attack Vector Other
Root Cause Exchange (DEX)
Year 2022

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