How much was lost in the Magpie Protocol hack?

The Magpie Protocol hack resulted in $129K in losses on April 23, 2024.

What attack technique was used in the Magpie Protocol exploit?

The Magpie Protocol exploit utilized Router Exploit. 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.

Magpie Protocol Hack

TOTAL LOST $129K

Low Apr 23, 2024 Router Exploit arbitrum avalanche base blast bsc ethereum optimism polygon polygon zkevm zksync era

Affected Chain arbitrum 10 chains affected

Recovered - No recovery reported

All-Time Rank #1442 By amount stolen

Auditors 1 Prior security audit

Incident Overview

Power Perpetuals for Cosmos based chains, leveraging Osmosis's Concentrated Liquidity Pools for on-chain price discovery

Incident Report

Protocol / Project Magpie Protocol

Date of Incident April 23, 2024

Affected Chain(s) arbitrum avalanche base blast bsc ethereum optimism polygon polygon zkevm zksync era

Attack Technique Router Exploit

Classification Protocol Logic

Primary Source View Post-Mortem

Protocol Information

Protocol Type Derivatives

Smart Contract Language Solidity

Official Website www.margined.io/

Protocol Twitter/X @margined_io

Market Context at Time of Hack

Token Categories

DeFi Interoperability Ethereum Ecosystem BNB Chain Ecosystem Bitcoin Ecosystem MAP Ecosystem

Protocol Links

GitHub 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 Deep understanding of router exploit and Solidity and EVM internals

Capital Required Seed capital to cover gas and initial position setup

On-Chain Access Ability to interact with arbitrum, avalanche, base, blast, bsc, ethereum, optimism, polygon, polygon zkevm, zksync era smart contracts and deploy a custom exploit contract

Protocol Analysis Identification of the exploitable vulnerability in Magpie Protocol's contract logic - root cause: protocol logic

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 Router Exploit audit checklist and test coverage

Audited by Audit Report 1 — still lost $129K. Prior audits don't guarantee safety, especially after post-audit code changes.

If you're auditing a protocol with similar architecture to Magpie Protocol, these are the critical security checks that could have prevented this incident (April 2024).

Verify all logic paths related to Router Exploit 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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Security Audit History

Audit Report 1 Report

Sources & References

01
Source 1 https://twitter.com/magpieprotocol/status/1782708631126819137

Threat Assessment

Severity Level

LOW

Attack Vector Router Exploit
Root Cause Protocol Logic
Year 2024

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