How much was lost in the BAT Token hack?

The BAT Token hack resulted in $49K in losses on June 16, 2023.

What attack technique was used in the BAT Token exploit?

The BAT Token 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.

BAT Token Hack

TOTAL LOST $49K

Low Jun 16, 2023 Rugpull

Affected Chain 2023 Incident surface

Recovered - No recovery reported

All-Time Rank #1723 By amount stolen

Protocol Type Chain Target category

Incident Overview

Quick Summary

Copycat BAT project was rugpulled by the initial token holder, draining 49,001 $USD from PancakeSwap.

Details of the Exploit

A copycat $BAT token trading on the PancakeSwap experienced a significant drain of funds from its PancakeSwap liquidity pool. The initial token holder was able to remove approximately 49,001 $USD. Note: this incident involves a fake $BAT token, not related to any other projects with the same token symbol or name.

Block Data Reference

Scammer Address:

https://bscscan.com/address/0x0ca870fa…7f28d2

Funds Holder Address:

https://bscscan.com/address/0x732B6097…e32D86

Liquidity Drain Transaction Example:

https://bscscan.com/tx/0x3a2ce503…ee601b

Funds Moving Transaction Example:

https://bscscan.com/tx/0xd99c7175…75d6f7

Incident Report

Protocol / Project BAT Token

Date of Incident June 16, 2023

Attack Technique Rugpull

Classification Token

Primary Source View Post-Mortem

Protocol Information

Protocol Type Chain

Affected Token BAT

Official Website fasttoken.com/

Protocol Twitter/X @fasttoken_com

Team Anonymous

Source Code Verified On-Chain

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 BAT Token'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 BAT Token, these are the critical security checks that could have prevented this incident (June 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/certikalert/status/1669810860376698883

Threat Assessment

Severity Level

LOW

Attack Vector Rugpull
Root Cause Token
Year 2023

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