How much was lost in the Curve DEX hack?

The Curve DEX hack resulted in $575K in losses on August 09, 2022.

What attack technique was used in the Curve DEX exploit?

The Curve DEX exploit utilized DNS Spoofing. 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.

Curve DEX Hack

TOTAL LOST $575K

Low Aug 09, 2022 DNS Spoofing ethereum

Affected Chain ethereum Incident surface

Recovered - No recovery reported

All-Time Rank #971 By amount stolen

Auditors 1 Prior security audit

Incident Overview

Curve is a decentralized exchange liquidity pool on Ethereum designed for extremely efficient stablecoin trading

Incident Report

Protocol / Project Curve DEX

Date of Incident August 09, 2022

Affected Chain(s) ethereum

Attack Technique DNS Spoofing

Classification Infrastructure

Primary Source View Post-Mortem

Protocol Information

Protocol Type Dexs

Official Website curve.finance

Protocol Twitter/X @CurveFinance

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 dns spoofing and Solidity and EVM internals

Capital Required Seed capital to cover gas and initial position setup

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

Protocol Analysis Identification of the exploitable vulnerability in Curve DEX's contract logic - root cause: infrastructure

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 DNS Spoofing audit checklist and test coverage

Audited by Audit Report 1 — still lost $575K. Prior audits don't guarantee safety, especially after post-audit code changes.

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

Verify all logic paths related to DNS Spoofing 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://rekt.news/curve-finance-rekt/

Threat Assessment

Severity Level

LOW

Attack Vector DNS Spoofing
Root Cause Infrastructure
Year 2022

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