How much was lost in the Keep3r Network hack?

The Keep3r Network hack resulted in $200K in losses on June 12, 2023.

What attack technique was used in the Keep3r Network exploit?

The Keep3r Network exploit utilized Private Key Compromised (Vanity Address). 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.

Keep3r Network Hack

TOTAL LOST $200K

Low Jun 12, 2023 Private Key Compromised (Vanity Address) ethereum

Affected Chain ethereum Incident surface

Recovered - No recovery reported

All-Time Rank #1268 By amount stolen

Auditors 1 Prior security audit

Incident Overview

Keep3r Network is a decentralized keeper network for projects that need external devops and for external teams to find keeper jobs

This is classified as a Access Control Attacks . Compare similar hacks →

Incident Report

Protocol / Project Keep3r Network

Date of Incident June 12, 2023

Affected Chain(s) ethereum

Attack Technique Private Key Compromised (Vanity Address)

Classification Infrastructure

Primary Source View Post-Mortem

Protocol Information

Protocol Type Derivatives

Smart Contract Language Solidity

Official Website keep3r.network

Protocol Twitter/X @thekeep3r

Market Context at Time of Hack

Token Categories

DeFi Privacy Ethereum Ecosystem Coinbase Ventures Portfolio Polychain Capital Portfolio Solana Ecosystem BoostVC Portfolio Fabric Ventures Portfolio

Protocol Links

GitHub Discord Reddit

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 Operational-security tradecraft (phishing, malware, leaked seed phrases, or insider access) to obtain treasury signing authority

Capital Required Minimal capital - only enough to cover gas while draining the compromised accounts

On-Chain Access Valid signing authority over the compromised wallets / multisig signers, allowing direct transfer of funds or stake authorization

Target Reconnaissance Identification of Keep3r Network's high-value treasury accounts and the authority / multisig structure controlling them

Execution Speed Speed to drain the compromised accounts before the team detects the breach and revokes signing authority or freezes the assets

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 $200K. Prior audits don't guarantee safety, especially after post-audit code changes.

If you're auditing a protocol with similar architecture to Keep3r Network, these are the critical security checks that could have prevented this incident (June 2023).

Verify all logic paths related to Private Key Compromised (Vanity Address) 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.

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Security Audit History

Audit Report 1 Report

Related Attack Classes

The technique used in this hack maps to these vulnerability classes in our security curriculum:

See all Access Control Attacks examples →

Access Control Attacks

Sources & References

01
Source 1 https://twitter.com/MetaSleuth/status/1668179353749041159

Threat Assessment

Severity Level

LOW

Attack Vector Private Key Compromised (Vanity Address)
Root Cause Infrastructure
Year 2023

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