How much was lost in the SafeMoonX hack?

The SafeMoonX hack resulted in $25K in losses on July 26, 2023.

What attack technique was used in the SafeMoonX exploit?

The SafeMoonX 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.

SafeMoonX Hack

TOTAL LOST $25K

Low Jul 26, 2023 Rugpull

Affected Chain 2023 Incident surface

Recovered - No recovery reported

All-Time Rank #1859 By amount stolen

Protocol Type Exit Scam/Rugpull Target category

Incident Overview

Quick Summary

SafeMoonX (SFMX) experienced a rugpull on Jul 26, 2023; deployer removed liquidity, resulting in a loss of 25,018 $USD (14.79 $ETH).

Details of the Exploit

SafeMoonX (SFMX) is an ERC20 token trading on UniSwap. On Jul 26, 2023, the deployer removed liquidity from the LP pool via a privileged function using a malicious contract with verified source code. The stolen funds, amounting to 25,018 $USD worth 14.79 $ETH, were transferred through a couple of EOA addresses and currently remain at one of them.

Block Data Reference

- Deployer Address:

https://etherscan.io/address/0x892F10E3…A7fC93

- Scammer Address:

https://etherscan.io/address/0x9aF4D799…DaDFCf

- Funds Holder as of August 18, 2023:

https://etherscan.io/address/0xc1eff258…bce480

- Liquidity Removal Transaction:

https://etherscan.io/tx/0x566e0693…04dbee

Incident Report

Protocol / Project SafeMoonX

Date of Incident July 26, 2023

Attack Technique Rugpull

Classification Token

Primary Source View Post-Mortem

Protocol Information

Protocol Type Exit Scam/Rugpull

Affected Token SFMX

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 SafeMoonX'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 SafeMoonX, these are the critical security checks that could have prevented this incident (July 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.

Free Trial

Sources & References

01
Source 1 https://twitter.com/CyversAlerts/status/1684125287100067840?s=20

Threat Assessment

Severity Level

LOW

Attack Vector Rugpull
Root Cause Token
Year 2023

Learn to Prevent the Next SafeMoonX

The SafeMoonX hack is one of many attacks that skilled auditors are trained to detect before deployment. Master real exploit patterns and defense techniques with hands-on Web3 security training.

Start Free Trial Browse Attack Library