How much was lost in the QWCF hack?

The QWCF hack resulted in $27K in losses on August 29, 2022.

What attack technique was used in the QWCF exploit?

The QWCF 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.

QWCF Hack

TOTAL LOST $27K

Low Aug 29, 2022 Rugpull

Affected Chain 2022 Incident surface

Recovered - No recovery reported

All-Time Rank #1844 By amount stolen

Protocol Type Exit Scam/Rugpull Target category

Incident Overview

Quick Summary

QWCF token project has been rugpulled by its team. Team made a profit of $27k.

Details of the Exploit

The creator of the token deployed a $QWCF contract, releasing 100 million tokens to the BSC network. Then the scammer transferred tokens to different addresses:

1) https://bscscan.com/tx/0xe9bbe09f…81aa60

2) https://bscscan.com/tx/0x5e1d5674…f131ed

3) https://bscscan.com/tx/0x4a3434de…90ad25

4) https://bscscan.com/tx/0xc0cb7fe8…671977

Scammer address (B) then created pair QWCF/USDT investing 50k $USDT.

When the community invested in this project the scammer addresses (E, F, G) dumped the token price, swapping $QWCF to $USDT. Example transactions:

1) https://bscscan.com/tx/0xbaf9a5fb…db87ef

2) https://bscscan.com/tx/0x0e17a0a9…939b81

3) https://bscscan.com/tx/0x11063b75…d9137e

Block Data Reference

Involved address:

- Scammer address (A): https://bscscan.com/address/0xb3f0c93a…7e505f

- Scammer address (B), pair creator: https://bscscan.com/address/0x14065880…71f347

- Scammer address (C): https://bscscan.com/address/0x79f6f221…53ac58

- Scammer address (E): https://bscscan.com/address/0x75581496…448bab

- Scammer address (F): https://bscscan.com/address/0xe0bc795f…05cc4e

- Scammer address (G): https://bscscan.com/address/0xe3ec3aa2…1c6709

0x81d3ec77438b4e99aa99ba25b1dbc3fea317fe3b0x81d3ec77438b4e99aa99ba25b1dbc3fea317fe3b

Incident Report

Protocol / Project QWCF

Date of Incident August 29, 2022

Attack Technique Rugpull

Classification Token

Primary Source View Post-Mortem

Protocol Information

Protocol Type Exit Scam/Rugpull

Affected Token QWCF

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 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 QWCF'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 QWCF, these are the critical security checks that could have prevented this incident (August 2022).

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://dexscreener.com/bsc/0x4a474eca664d638562d70ed981e9b1d4133f6cd9

Threat Assessment

Severity Level

LOW

Attack Vector Rugpull
Root Cause Token
Year 2022

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