How much was lost in the CommEX hack?

The CommEX hack resulted in $134K in losses on October 06, 2023.

What attack technique was used in the CommEX exploit?

The CommEX 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.

CommEX Hack

TOTAL LOST $134K

Low Oct 06, 2023 Rugpull

Affected Chain 2023 Incident surface

Recovered - No recovery reported

All-Time Rank #1426 By amount stolen

Protocol Type Exit Scam/Rugpull Target category

Incident Overview

Quick Summary

CMX (fake token) rugpulled with liquidity removal, stealing 134,077 $USD worth 635.86 WBNB.

Details of the Exploit

CMX, a BEP20 token trading on PancakeSwap, faced a significant exitscam on Oct 6, 2023. The deployer removed liquidity from the LP pool and transferred the stolen funds to another EOA address. These funds were further distributed among multiple addresses, part still remained deployer wallet as BSC-USD, and a portion was sent to a Bybit deposit through the scammer's address.

The fraudulent CMX token was promoted in Russian-language Telegram groups. Before the final withdrawal, the token creator withdrew liquidity five times, utilizing these funds to buy back CMX tokens. This strategy artificially inflated the token's price, deceiving investors into thinking the project was thriving.

Block Data Reference

Deployer Address:

https://bscscan.com/address/0x67F09504…57b888

Scammer Addresses:

https://bscscan.com/address/0x041b8ED1…9F1bA4

https://bscscan.com/address/0xc6ae76C4…EE98d5

Liquidity Removal Transaction:

https://bscscan.com/tx/0x56a8cc91…4dcbe2

Bybit Deposit Transaction:

https://bscscan.com/tx/0x51c7f193…f265fe

Incident Report

Protocol / Project CommEX

Date of Incident October 06, 2023

Attack Technique Rugpull

Classification Token

Primary Source View Post-Mortem

Protocol Information

Protocol Type Exit Scam/Rugpull

Affected Token CMX

Official Website comdex.one/home

Protocol Twitter/X @ComdexOfficial

Team Anonymous

Source Code Verified On-Chain

Market Context at Time of Hack

Token Categories

Cosmos Ecosystem Injective Ecosystem Osmosis Ecosystem Real World Assets Protocols

Protocol Links

GitHub Discord Reddit

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 CommEX'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 CommEX, these are the critical security checks that could have prevented this incident (October 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/1710218626358222914

Threat Assessment

Severity Level

LOW

Attack Vector Rugpull
Root Cause Token
Year 2023

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