How much was lost in the NFDAO hack?

The NFDAO hack resulted in $88K in losses on June 05, 2023.

What attack technique was used in the NFDAO exploit?

The NFDAO 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.

NFDAO Hack

TOTAL LOST $88K

Low Jun 05, 2023 Rugpull

Affected Chain 2023 Incident surface

Recovered - No recovery reported

All-Time Rank #1572 By amount stolen

Auditors 1 Prior security audit

Incident Overview

Quick Summary

NFDAO project experienced a rugpull exit scam in which the token deployer-related address withdrew liquidity from PancakePool, resulting in a loss of 88,420 $USD.

Details of the Exploit

NFDAO is a BEP20 token trading on PancakeSwap. The token's contract was exploited by its deployer-related address to remove all funds available in the liquidity pool. All stolen funds were transferred to another EOA address leaving investors holding worthless tokens.

Block Data Reference

Scammer Address:

https://bscscan.com/address/0x91b6854e…62c6cb

Deployer Address:

https://bscscan.com/address/0xA90ab5bE…9b6970

Funds Holder Address:

https://bscscan.com/address/0x7E0E658a…922eEc

Liquidity Removal Transaction:

https://bscscan.com/tx/0xb6d28af3…857d5f

Stolen Funds Transfer Transaction:

https://bscscan.com/tx/0x45317e4c…84471a

Incident Report

Protocol / Project NFDAO

Date of Incident June 05, 2023

Attack Technique Rugpull

Classification Token

Primary Source View Post-Mortem

Protocol Information

Protocol Type Partially Algorithmic Stablecoin

Affected Token NFD

Official Website fxdao.io

Protocol Twitter/X @FxDAO_io

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 NFDAO'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

Audited by Audit Report 1 — still lost $88K. Prior audits don't guarantee safety, especially after post-audit code changes.

If you're auditing a protocol with similar architecture to NFDAO, 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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Security Audit History

Audit Report 1 Report

Sources & References

01
Source 1 https://twitter.com/DeDotFiSecurity/status/1665837580955406338?s=20

Threat Assessment

Severity Level

LOW

Attack Vector Rugpull
Root Cause Token
Year 2023

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