How much was lost in the Frontfanz hack?

The Frontfanz hack resulted in $98K in losses on August 19, 2023.

What attack technique was used in the Frontfanz exploit?

The Frontfanz 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.

Frontfanz Hack

TOTAL LOST $98K

Low Aug 19, 2023 Rugpull

Affected Chain 2023 Incident surface

Recovered - No recovery reported

All-Time Rank #1536 By amount stolen

Protocol Type Exit Scam/Rugpull Target category

Incident Overview

Quick Summary

Frontfanz suffered an exitscam on Aug 19, 2023, resulting in a loss of 98,302 USDT.

Details of the Exploit

Frontfanz (FANX), a fake BEP20 token trading on PancakeSwap, underwent an exitscam on Aug 19, 2023. The deployer removed liquidity from the LP pool in five separate transactions within two days, causing a total loss of 98,302 USDT. The stolen funds were distributed between multiple EOA addresses.

The deployer initially added liquidity for 29,990 USDT on Aug 17 and managed to remove liquidity for 128,292 USDT in total, resulting in a profit of 98,302 USDT for the scammer.

Block Data Reference

- Deployer Address:

https://bscscan.com/address/0x57a7D780…1793eF

- Scammer Address:

https://bscscan.com/address/0xbcb66b0d…97be43

- Funder Address:

https://bscscan.com/address/0xE6d14f65…76fD2F

- Liquidity Removal Transactions:

https://bscscan.com/tx/0x440999be…ba9e96

https://bscscan.com/tx/0x9703161d…8c3378

https://bscscan.com/tx/0x92bdbafa…462649

https://bscscan.com/tx/0xa7ed179d…281d33

https://bscscan.com/tx/0xc85fb532…5bfd0b

- Liquidity Adding Transaction:

https://bscscan.com/tx/0xa7e3a6d6…82cc70

Incident Report

Protocol / Project Frontfanz

Date of Incident August 19, 2023

Attack Technique Rugpull

Classification Token

Primary Source View Post-Mortem

Protocol Information

Protocol Type Exit Scam/Rugpull

Affected Token FANX

Official Website fanx.frontfanz.com

Protocol Twitter/X @Frontfanz_fanx

Team Anonymous

Source Code Verified On-Chain

Market Context at Time of Hack

Token Categories

Communications & Social Media Social Token Polygon 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 Frontfanz'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 Frontfanz, these are the critical security checks that could have prevented this incident (August 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.

Free Trial

Sources & References

01
Source 1 https://twitter.com/DeDotFiSecurity/status/1692885608388059498?s=20

Threat Assessment

Severity Level

LOW

Attack Vector Rugpull
Root Cause Token
Year 2023

Learn to Prevent the Next Frontfanz

The Frontfanz hack is one of many attacks that skilled auditors are trained to detect before deployment. Master real exploit patterns and defense techniques with hands-on Web3 security training.

Start Free Trial Browse Attack Library