How much was lost in the GoldenFarm hack?

The GoldenFarm hack resulted in $396 in losses on December 07, 2020.

What attack technique was used in the GoldenFarm exploit?

The GoldenFarm 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.

GoldenFarm Hack

TOTAL LOST $396

Low Dec 07, 2020 Rugpull binance

Affected Chain binance Incident surface

Recovered - No recovery reported

All-Time Rank #2029 By amount stolen

Protocol Type Exit Scam/Rugpull Target category

Incident Overview

The contract deployer added initial liquidity multiple times, the example transactions:

https://www.bscscan.com/tx/0x6f07974c…33536c https://www.bscscan.com/tx/0xf179f346…d6400a https://www.bscscan.com/tx/0xef73a1d9…294b5b

Tokens were sold multiple times by the contract deployer:

https://www.bscscan.com/address/0xac6f6ca3…e1b83e

The liquidity was removed multiple times as well, the example transaction:

https://www.bscscan.com/tx/0xe0d3a678…00ddf1 https://www.bscscan.com/tx/0xf06b9d42…dfc57e

The stolen funds were bridged to the Binance Chain via BSC: Token Hub by the contract deployer at:

https://www.bscscan.com/tx/0xd3be69e4…716b72

https://www.bscscan.com/tx/0xd37703dc…6e9561

https://www.bscscan.com/tx/0xaa159255…022fc4

Incident Report

Protocol / Project GoldenFarm

Date of Incident December 07, 2020

Affected Chain(s) binance

Attack Technique Rugpull

Classification Token

Primary Source View Post-Mortem

Protocol Information

Protocol Type Exit Scam/Rugpull

Affected Token GOLD

Official Website app.goldenfarming.org/

Protocol Twitter/X @goldenfarming

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 binance smart contracts and deploy a custom exploit contract

Protocol Analysis Identification of the exploitable vulnerability in GoldenFarm'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 GoldenFarm, these are the critical security checks that could have prevented this incident (December 2020).

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://app.goldenfarming.org/

Threat Assessment

Severity Level

LOW

Attack Vector Rugpull
Root Cause Token
Year 2020

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