How much was lost in the Helio Protocol hack?

The Helio Protocol hack resulted in $178K in losses on September 07, 2023.

What attack technique was used in the Helio Protocol exploit?

The Helio Protocol 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.

Helio Protocol Hack

TOTAL LOST $178K

Low Sep 07, 2023 Rugpull

Affected Chain 2023 Incident surface

Recovered - No recovery reported

All-Time Rank #1340 By amount stolen

Auditors 1 Prior security audit

Incident Overview

Quick Summary

Helio Protocol rugpull occurred on Sep 7, 2023, with the deployer removing liquidity worth 178,277 USD from PancakeSwap, resulting in a loss of 829.41 BNB.

Details of the Exploit

Helio Protocol, a BEP20 token trading on PancakeSwap, is a copycat token not to be confused with the original project or tokens with a similar name. On Sep 7, 2023, the deployer removed liquidity from the LP pool, causing a rugpull. Part of the stolen funds, held in USDT, are still in the token creator's wallet, while the other part was deposited into the ByBit exchange.

Block Data Reference

Deployer Address:

https://bscscan.com/address/0x7335482E…bF414d

Scammer Address:

https://bscscan.com/address/0xc6ae76C4…EE98d5

ByBit Deposit Transaction:

https://bscscan.com/tx/0xb302194f…3557b3

Liquidity Removal Transaction:

https://bscscan.com/tx/0x196ece96…22a9d7

Incident Report

Protocol / Project Helio Protocol

Date of Incident September 07, 2023

Attack Technique Rugpull

Classification Token

Primary Source View Post-Mortem

Protocol Information

Protocol Type Dual-Token Stablecoin

Affected Token HELIO

Official Website hylo.so/leverage?ref=XG3NTI

Protocol Twitter/X @hylo_so

Team Anonymous

Source Code Verified On-Chain

Market Context at Time of Hack

Protocol Links

GitHub 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 Helio Protocol'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

Audited by Audit Report 1 — still lost $178K. Prior audits don't guarantee safety, especially after post-audit code changes.

If you're auditing a protocol with similar architecture to Helio Protocol, these are the critical security checks that could have prevented this incident (September 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

Security Audit History

Audit Report 1 Report

Sources & References

01
Source 1 https://twitter.com/CertiKAlert/status/1699829620315423018

Threat Assessment

Severity Level

LOW

Attack Vector Rugpull
Root Cause Token
Year 2023

Learn to Prevent the Next Helio Protocol

The Helio Protocol 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