How much was lost in the DarkProtocol hack?

The DarkProtocol hack resulted in $174K in losses on November 23, 2023.

What attack technique was used in the DarkProtocol exploit?

The DarkProtocol 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.

DarkProtocol Hack

TOTAL LOST $174K

Low Nov 23, 2023 Rugpull

Affected Chain 2023 Incident surface

Recovered - No recovery reported

All-Time Rank #1345 By amount stolen

Protocol Type Gamified Mining Target category

Incident Overview

Quick Summary

DARK token rugpull occurred on Nov 23, 2023, with the deployer removing liquidity worth 174,334 USD from PancakeSwap pool.

Details of the Exploit

DARK is a BEP20 token trading on PancakeSwap. On November 23, 2023, the deployer removed liquidity from the LP pool in a rugpull exit scam. The stolen funds, amounting to 174,334 USD worth 737.52 WBNB, were transferred to another EOA and subsequently distributed between multiple addresses.

Block Data Reference

Deployer Address:

https://bscscan.com/address/0xb88028a1…c60832

Liquidity Adding Transaction:

https://bscscan.com/tx/0xbc8b80ce…e5903c

Liquidity Removal Transaction:

https://bscscan.com/tx/0x7a5f057b…e82069

Incident Report

Protocol / Project DarkProtocol

Date of Incident November 23, 2023

Attack Technique Rugpull

Classification Token

Primary Source View Post-Mortem

Protocol Information

Protocol Type Gamified Mining

Affected Token DARK

Official Website aur.supply

Protocol Twitter/X @aursupply

Team Anonymous

Source Code Verified On-Chain

Market Context at Time of Hack

Token Categories

Solana Ecosystem

Protocol Links

Discord

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 DarkProtocol'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 DarkProtocol, these are the critical security checks that could have prevented this incident (November 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/PeckShieldAlert/status/1727900471598436405

Threat Assessment

Severity Level

LOW

Attack Vector Rugpull
Root Cause Token
Year 2023

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