How much was lost in the Ledger Live Web3 hack?

The Ledger Live Web3 hack resulted in $768K in losses on November 05, 2023.

What attack technique was used in the Ledger Live Web3 exploit?

The Ledger Live Web3 exploit utilized Phishing. 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.

Ledger Live Web3 Hack

TOTAL LOST $768K

Low Nov 05, 2023 Phishing

Affected Chain 2023 Incident surface

Recovered - No recovery reported

All-Time Rank #897 By amount stolen

Protocol Type Exploit/Phishing Target category

Incident Overview

Quick Summary

Ledger Live Web3, a fake wallet app on MicroSoft Store, exitscammed users, stealing 768,000 USD worth of BTC and ETH through phishing.

Details of the Exploit

Ledger Live Web3, a fake wallet app, was published to the MicroSoft Store on November 5, 2023. The app was designed to phish users' private keys and steal their funds. A total of 588,000 USD worth of BTC and 180,000 USD worth of various tokens on the Ethereum chain were stolen, amounting to a total loss of 768,000 USD.

The attacker transferred the stolen funds to another EOA and then distributed them between multiple addresses. Stolen funds in the Ethereum chain were deposited into the eXch exchange.

Block Data Reference

Ethereum:

Scammer Address:

https://etherscan.io/address/0x089Ecf07…88b7B9

Malicious Transaction Example:

https://etherscan.io/tx/0x9559bfbd…e3420d

eXch Transfer Transaction Example:

https://etherscan.io/tx/0x8dfb0c0e…aa26a8

Bitcoin:

Scammer Addresses:

https://www.blockchain.com/btc/address/bc1qg05gw43elzqxqnll8vs8x47ukkhudwyncxy64q

https://www.blockchain.com/btc/address/bc1qtntflhe6f58lenv8chwuw8w55wxudwsvv549ah

Funds Holder Example as of November 8, 2023:

https://www.blockchain.com/btc/address/bc1qa9jf870xpzdmccnpqdxes93gd34zwplr69wpuz

This is classified as a Phishing Attacks . Compare similar hacks →

Incident Report

Protocol / Project Ledger Live Web3

Date of Incident November 05, 2023

Attack Technique Phishing

Classification Other

Primary Source View Post-Mortem

Protocol Information

Protocol Type Exploit/Phishing

Team Anonymous

Source Code Unverified

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 phishing 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 Ledger Live Web3's contract logic - root cause: other

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? Likely — with a thorough Phishing audit checklist and test coverage

If you're auditing a protocol with similar architecture to Ledger Live Web3, these are the critical security checks that could have prevented this incident (November 2023).

Verify all logic paths related to Phishing are guarded by proper access controls and input validation - see the Phishing 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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Related Attack Classes

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

See all Phishing Attacks examples →

Phishing Attacks

Sources & References

01
Source 1 https://twitter.com/zachxbt/status/1720961400313373127

Threat Assessment

Severity Level

LOW

Attack Vector Phishing
Root Cause Other
Year 2023

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