How much was lost in the CatgeSwap hack?

The CatgeSwap hack resulted in — in losses on August 30, 2021.

What attack technique was used in the CatgeSwap exploit?

The CatgeSwap 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.

CatgeSwap Hack

TOTAL LOST —

Aug 30, 2021 Rugpull binance

Affected Chain binance Incident surface

Recovered - No recovery reported

Same Technique 865 Total incidents

Auditors 1 Prior security audit

Incident Overview

CafeSwap is a yield farming and staking platform on BSC Chain, We have chosen BSC because of its low tnx fees and faster speed. We have built this project to provide the best experience with farming while regulating the supply, We believe in partnerships hence we aim to bring all BSC DeFi ecosystems in one place to have a friendly ecosystem for all of us.

Incident Report

Protocol / Project CatgeSwap

Date of Incident August 30, 2021

Affected Chain(s) binance

Attack Technique Rugpull

Classification Exchange (DEX)

Primary Source View Post-Mortem

Protocol Information

Protocol Type Dexs

Affected Token CATGES

Official Website catgeswap.finance/

Protocol Twitter/X @CafeSwapFinance

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 binance smart contracts and deploy a custom exploit contract

Protocol Analysis Identification of the exploitable vulnerability in CatgeSwap'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? Hard to catch — private key / OpSec failures are outside smart contract audit scope

Audited by Audit Report 1 — still lost —. Prior audits don't guarantee safety, especially after post-audit code changes.

If you're auditing a protocol with similar architecture to CatgeSwap, these are the critical security checks that could have prevented this incident (August 2021).

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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Security Audit History

Audit Report 1 Report

Sources & References

01
Source 1 https://bscscan.com/token/0x235ca259faa0037c54ab4c264335efcc4205…

Threat Assessment

Severity Level

UNKNOWN

Attack Vector Rugpull
Root Cause Exchange (DEX)
Year 2021

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