How much was lost in the PolyHorse Finance hack?

The PolyHorse Finance hack resulted in — in losses on August 31, 2021.

What attack technique was used in the PolyHorse Finance exploit?

The PolyHorse Finance 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.

PolyHorse Finance Hack

TOTAL LOST —

Aug 31, 2021 Rugpull polygon

Affected Chain polygon Incident surface

Recovered - No recovery reported

Same Technique 865 Total incidents

Protocol Type Lending Target category

Incident Overview

Lore is Modular Reserve Protocol (MRP) that currently contains an Aave v2 Fork that will soon have a Collateralized Debt Position Protocol (CDP) built on top of the borrowing/lending to generate yield for a decentralized stablecoin.

Incident Report

Protocol / Project PolyHorse Finance

Date of Incident August 31, 2021

Affected Chain(s) polygon

Attack Technique Rugpull

Classification Other

Primary Source View Post-Mortem

Protocol Information

Protocol Type Lending

Affected Token PolyHorse Finance

Official Website polyhorse.farm/

Protocol Twitter/X @LoreFinance

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 polygon smart contracts and deploy a custom exploit contract

Protocol Analysis Identification of the exploitable vulnerability in PolyHorse Finance'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? Hard to catch — private key / OpSec failures are outside smart contract audit scope

If you're auditing a protocol with similar architecture to PolyHorse Finance, these are the critical security checks that could have prevented this incident (August 2021).

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://rugdoc.io/project/polyhorse-finance/

Threat Assessment

Severity Level

UNKNOWN

Attack Vector Rugpull
Root Cause Other
Year 2021

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