Incident Overview
On February 24, 2025, stablecoin payment platform Infini suffered a $50 million exploit, allegedly carried out by a developer who retained administrative privileges after contract deployment.
The attacker, suspected to be a former Infini smart contract developer, retained hidden admin privileges within the deployed contract. This allowed them to bypass security measures and withdraw $49.52 million in USDC without resistance. The exploit was carefully planned, as the attacker’s wallet was funded via Tornado Cash, ensuring anonymity.
The stolen USDC was immediately swapped for DAI to prevent freezing, then exchanged for 17,696 ETH before being transferred to a fresh wallet (0xfcc8…6e49). The Infini team did not halt withdrawals, with CEO Christian Li stating they would fully compensate losses if needed. The attack occurred just days after Bybit’s record-breaking $1.4 billion hack, raising further concerns about security in the crypto space.
On-chain analyst ZachXBT has yet to attribute the attack to a specific group, but suspicions remain on insider involvement, making this another example of the risks associated with centralized control over smart contracts.
Incident Report
Protocol Information
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.
What Auditors Should Check
If you're auditing a protocol with similar architecture to Infini, these are the critical security checks that could have prevented this incident (February 2025).
- Verify all logic paths related to Dev Privilege Oversight Exploit / Access Control are guarded by proper access controls and input validation - see the Access Control Attacks attack class for patterns
- 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 TrialSecurity Audit History
- Audit Report 1 Report
Related Attack Classes
The technique used in this hack maps to these vulnerability classes in our security curriculum:
Sources & References
Learn to Prevent the Next Infini
The Infini 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.