How much was lost in the DAO Maker Vesting hack?

The DAO Maker Vesting hack resulted in $7.0M in losses on August 12, 2021.

What attack technique was used in the DAO Maker Vesting exploit?

The DAO Maker Vesting exploit utilized Private Key Compromised (Unknown Method) / 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.

DAO Maker Vesting Hack

TOTAL LOST $7.0M

Medium Aug 12, 2021 Private Key Compromised (Unknown Method) / Other ethereum

Affected Chain ethereum Incident surface

Recovered - No recovery reported

All-Time Rank #368 By amount stolen

Auditors 1 Prior security audit

Incident Overview

Quick Summary

Hackers exploit smart contract vulnerability in crowdfunding platform DAO Maker, stealing approximately $7 million in USD Coin (USDC) from over 5,000 user accounts.

Details of the Exploit

The hackers exploited a smart contract vulnerability in DAO Maker, a platform aimed at raising funds for crypto projects. They initially stole 10,000 USDC and then made 15 more transactions to acquire additional funds, totaling approximately $7 million. The attack affected 5,251 user accounts.

According to DAO Maker CEO Christoph Zaknun, the Strong Holder Offering (SHO) contract was targeted because the number of deposits exceeded their expectations. Users with up to $900 in their accounts were reportedly unaffected as the platform moved their funds into different wallets. DAO Maker has suspended all deposits pending a full Root Cause Analysis.

Blockchain intelligence firm CipherBlade is conducting an investigation into the hack and has identified a Binance account associated with the attacker. DAO Maker is exploring compensation options for all affected users.

Block Data Reference

The attacker's address:

https://etherscan.io/address/0xd8428836…208f50

The contract used to perform the attack:

https://etherscan.io/address/0x1c932902…2f3cee#code

The transaction of the attack execution:

https://etherscan.io/tx/0xeefc22f2…490f7b

The victim's contract:

https://etherscan.io/address/0x41B85670…57cf49#code

The transaction of the stolen funds transfer:

https://etherscan.io/tx/0xa8a61f77…1e775e

This is classified as a Access Control Attacks . Compare similar hacks →

Incident Report

Protocol / Project DAO Maker Vesting

Date of Incident August 12, 2021

Affected Chain(s) ethereum

Attack Technique Private Key Compromised (Unknown Method) / Other

Classification Infrastructure / Stablecoin,Other

Primary Source View Post-Mortem

Protocol Information

Protocol Type Services

Affected Token DAO

Official Website www.daomaker.com/

Protocol Twitter/X @TheDaoMaker

Team Anonymous

Source Code Unverified

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 Operational-security tradecraft (phishing, malware, leaked seed phrases, or insider access) to obtain treasury signing authority

Capital Required Minimal capital - only enough to cover gas while draining the compromised accounts

On-Chain Access Valid signing authority over the compromised wallets / multisig signers, allowing direct transfer of funds or stake authorization

Target Reconnaissance Identification of DAO Maker Vesting's high-value treasury accounts and the authority / multisig structure controlling them

Execution Speed Speed to drain the compromised accounts before the team detects the breach and revokes signing authority or freezes the assets

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 Certik — still lost $7.0M. Prior audits don't guarantee safety, especially after post-audit code changes.

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

Verify all logic paths related to Private Key Compromised (Unknown Method) / Other are guarded by proper access controls and input validation - see the Access Control Attacks attack class for patterns
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 2021-06-09 Report

Related Attack Classes

The technique used in this hack maps to these vulnerability classes in our security curriculum:

See all Access Control Attacks examples →

Access Control Attacks

Sources & References

01
Source 1 https://cointelegraph.com/news/dao-maker-crowdfunding-platform-l…
02
Reference https://twitter.com/peckshield/status/1425778230968135684

Threat Assessment

Severity Level

MEDIUM

Attack Vector Private Key Compromised (Unknown Method) / Other
Root Cause Infrastructure / Stablecoin,Other
Year 2021

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