How much was lost in the Midgets Token hack?

The Midgets Token hack resulted in $41K in losses on June 14, 2023.

What attack technique was used in the Midgets Token exploit?

The Midgets Token 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.

Midgets Token Hack

TOTAL LOST $41K

Low Jun 14, 2023 Rugpull

Affected Chain 2023 Incident surface

Recovered - No recovery reported

All-Time Rank #1764 By amount stolen

Protocol Type Exit Scam/Rugpull Target category

Incident Overview

Quick Summary

Midgets ($MIDGETS) project was rugpulled by its deployer, losing 40,842 $USD.

Details of the Exploit

The $MIDGETS token, trading on the Ethereum blockchain, experienced a liquidity removal from its token contract by its deployer. The deployer exploited a privileged function to remove 24.52 $ETH, which was valued at approximately 40,842 $USD at the time. The stolen funds were then transferred to another EOA before eventually being sent to Binance Exchange.

Block Data Reference

Scammer Address:

https://etherscan.io/address/0x82954D4C…4DA54b

Liquidity Removal Transaction:

https://etherscan.io/tx/0x09992564…683cbb

Funds Moving Transactions:

https://etherscan.io/tx/0x276d1df9…438739

https://etherscan.io/tx/0x44c5389f…95f91f

Incident Report

Protocol / Project Midgets Token

Date of Incident June 14, 2023

Attack Technique Rugpull

Classification Token

Primary Source View Post-Mortem

Protocol Information

Protocol Type Exit Scam/Rugpull

Affected Token MIDGETS

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 Midgets Token'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 Midgets Token, these are the critical security checks that could have prevented this incident (June 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/CyversAlerts/status/1669226471741612033?s=20

Threat Assessment

Severity Level

LOW

Attack Vector Rugpull
Root Cause Token
Year 2023

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