How much was lost in the SherLOCK hack?

The SherLOCK hack resulted in $262K in losses on September 21, 2022.

What attack technique was used in the SherLOCK exploit?

The SherLOCK 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.

SherLOCK Hack

TOTAL LOST $262K

Low Sep 21, 2022 Rugpull

Affected Chain 2022 Incident surface

Recovered - No recovery reported

All-Time Rank #1194 By amount stolen

Auditors 1 Prior security audit

Incident Overview

Quick Summary

SherLOCK token's liquidity was totally removed by the token owner. The scammer drained 938 $BNB from the PancakeSwap liquidity pool.

Details of the Exploit

SherLOCK is BEP20 token, and can't be confused with the SherLOCK Security project on the Ethereum chain. The token was deployed on 5th September 2022, and users couldn't sell their $LOCK tokens after buying. On 21st September, the token deployer removed 938 $BNB from the PancakeSwap liquidity pool.

Consequently, 520 $BNB was transferred to Tornado Cash from the original address, and the remaining funds were transferred to another EOA address.

Block Data Reference

Scammer address:

https://bscscan.com/address/0x1ce21757…ac39bd

Liquidity Pool:

https://bscscan.com/address/0xd989d495…53db1d

Liquidity removal transaction:

https://bscscan.com/tx/0x96aa0df2…fe45da

Tornado Cash transfer transaction example:

https://bscscan.com/tx/0x4b3c3f00…bb4f54

Transfer to EOA address:

https://bscscan.com/tx/0xd388ad3c…8e33d4

Incident Report

Protocol / Project SherLOCK

Date of Incident September 21, 2022

Attack Technique Rugpull

Classification Token

Primary Source View Post-Mortem

Protocol Information

Protocol Type Insurance

Affected Token LOCK

Official Website sherlock.xyz

Protocol Twitter/X @Sherlock_DeFi

Team Anonymous

Source Code Verified On-Chain

Market Context at Time of Hack

Token Categories

Cybersecurity Governance

Protocol Links

GitHub Discord

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 SherLOCK'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 $262K. Prior audits don't guarantee safety, especially after post-audit code changes.

If you're auditing a protocol with similar architecture to SherLOCK, these are the critical security checks that could have prevented this incident (September 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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Security Audit History

Audit Report 1 Report

Sources & References

01
Source 1 https://twitter.com/CertiKAlert/status/1572586893937631235

Threat Assessment

Severity Level

LOW

Attack Vector Rugpull
Root Cause Token
Year 2022

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