How much was lost in the IPMB hack?

The IPMB hack resulted in $172K in losses on November 23, 2023.

What attack technique was used in the IPMB exploit?

The IPMB 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.

IPMB Hack

TOTAL LOST $172K

Low Nov 23, 2023 Rugpull

Affected Chain 2023 Incident surface

Recovered - No recovery reported

All-Time Rank #1349 By amount stolen

Protocol Type Exit Scam/Rugpull Target category

Incident Overview

Quick Summary

IPMB token was rugpulled by deployer removing liquidity worth 172,483 USD from PancakeSwap pool.

Details of the Exploit

IPMB is a BEP20 token trading on PancakeSwap. On Nov 23, 2023, the deployer removed liquidity from the LP pool in an exit scam. The stolen funds, amounting to 729.67 WBNB (worth approximately 172,483 USD), were transferred to another EOA and then distributed between multiple addresses.

Block Data Reference

Deployer Address:

https://bscscan.com/address/0x9920e844…448F50

Liquidity Adding Transaction:

https://bscscan.com/tx/0x3787438f…9498e5

Liquidity Removal Transaction:

https://bscscan.com/tx/0x1d39fa9e…ff8444

Incident Report

Protocol / Project IPMB

Date of Incident November 23, 2023

Attack Technique Rugpull

Classification Token

Primary Source View Post-Mortem

Protocol Information

Protocol Type Exit Scam/Rugpull

Affected Token IPMB

Team Anonymous

Source Code Verified On-Chain

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 IPMB'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 IPMB, these are the critical security checks that could have prevented this incident (November 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/PeckShieldAlert/status/1727906967841325364

Threat Assessment

Severity Level

LOW

Attack Vector Rugpull
Root Cause Token
Year 2023

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