How much was lost in the DeFido hack?

The DeFido hack resulted in $114K in losses on July 28, 2023.

What attack technique was used in the DeFido exploit?

The DeFido 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.

DeFido Hack

TOTAL LOST $114K

Low Jul 28, 2023 Rugpull

Affected Chain 2023 Incident surface

Recovered - No recovery reported

All-Time Rank #1482 By amount stolen

Protocol Type SoFi Target category

Incident Overview

Quick Summary

DeFido project was rugpulled by the owner after removing liquidity worth 113,971 $USD from PancakeSwap.

Details of the Exploit

DeFido (DEFIDO) is a BEP20 token trading on PancakeSwap. The project experienced an exit scam after the deployer transferred ownership to another address. The new owner then proceeded to remove liquidity from the LP pool in four separate transactions between July 28 and August 1.

The stolen funds, amounting to 113,971 $USD worth 472.89 BNB, were transferred across multiple EOA addresses.

Block Data Reference

Deployer Address:

https://bscscan.com/address/0xd041bC1b…C88D2F

Scammer Address:

https://bscscan.com/address/0xf08ca718…7971c7

Liquidity Removal Transactions:

1. https://bscscan.com/tx/0x13de1690…9b0e5d

2. https://bscscan.com/tx/0x6c838ada…42b8cf

3. https://bscscan.com/tx/0xeb4a7969…e399f7

4. https://bscscan.com/tx/0x4c425ea7…b186a9

Ownership Transfer Transaction:

https://bscscan.com/tx/0x8faf466a…8bb984

Incident Report

Protocol / Project DeFido

Date of Incident July 28, 2023

Attack Technique Rugpull

Classification Token

Primary Source View Post-Mortem

Protocol Information

Protocol Type SoFi

Affected Token DEFIDO

Official Website defo.xyz

Protocol Twitter/X @DefoWorld

Team Anonymous

Source Code Unverified

Market Context at Time of Hack

Token Categories

Platform DeFi DApp Ethereum Ecosystem Launchpad Solana Ecosystem DeFi 2.0 OKX Ventures Portfolio

Protocol Links

GitHub Reddit Telegram

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 DeFido'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 DeFido, these are the critical security checks that could have prevented this incident (July 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/1684923262994636801

Threat Assessment

Severity Level

LOW

Attack Vector Rugpull
Root Cause Token
Year 2023

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