How much was lost in the DerpMan hack?

The DerpMan hack resulted in $88K in losses on May 09, 2023.

What attack technique was used in the DerpMan exploit?

The DerpMan 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.

DerpMan Hack

TOTAL LOST $88K

Low May 09, 2023 Rugpull

Affected Chain 2023 Incident surface

Recovered - No recovery reported

All-Time Rank #1573 By amount stolen

Protocol Type Exit Scam/Rugpull Target category

Incident Overview

Quick Summary

Derpman token project was rugpulled by the deployer, who drained the UniSwap pool and stole 88,126 $USD worth of funds.

Details of the Exploit

Derpman is an Ethereum-based ERC20 token trading on UniSwap. The scammer was able to drain all available liquidity from the UniSwap pool and swap them for 48.8 $ETH which was worth approximately 88,126 $USD at that time. The stolen assets were then transferred to another EOA address before being distributed between multiple addresses.

Block Data Reference

Scammer Address:

https://etherscan.io/address/0xcf18022d…56561c

Funds Holder Address:

https://etherscan.io/address/0x4d1fd751…3C1915

Draining Transaction:

https://etherscan.io/tx/0xdfc3a649…88ef84

Stolen Funds Transfer Transaction:

https://etherscan.io/tx/0x935f1585…00940d

Incident Report

Protocol / Project DerpMan

Date of Incident May 09, 2023

Attack Technique Rugpull

Classification Token

Primary Source View Post-Mortem

Protocol Information

Protocol Type Exit Scam/Rugpull

Affected Token DMAN

Official Website deplan.xyz

Protocol Twitter/X @deplan_xyz

Team Anonymous

Source Code Verified On-Chain

Market Context at Time of Hack

Token Categories

Solana Ecosystem

Protocol Links

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 DerpMan'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 DerpMan, these are the critical security checks that could have prevented this incident (May 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/DeDotFiSecurity/status/1655905511361880071

Threat Assessment

Severity Level

LOW

Attack Vector Rugpull
Root Cause Token
Year 2023

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