How much was lost in the SPROUT hack?

The SPROUT hack resulted in $108K in losses on September 07, 2023.

What attack technique was used in the SPROUT exploit?

The SPROUT 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.

SPROUT Hack

TOTAL LOST $108K

Low Sep 07, 2023 Rugpull

Affected Chain 2023 Incident surface

Recovered - No recovery reported

All-Time Rank #1504 By amount stolen

Protocol Type Exit Scam/Rugpull Target category

Incident Overview

Quick Summary

SPROUT token project was exit scammed with a rugpull, removing liquidity worth 107,982 USD from UniSwap pool between May 25 and September 7, 2023.

Details of the Exploit

SPROUT is an ERC20 token trading on UniSwap. The scammer removed liquidity from the UniSwap pool in three separate transactions between May 25 and September 7, 2023. The total funds lost in this exit scam amount to 107,982 USD, equivalent to 59.97 WETH.

Block Data Reference

Deployer Address:

https://etherscan.io/address/0x98ea9ef2…7bc2BC

Scammer Address:

https://etherscan.io/address/0x77CD728E…f0f869

Liquidity Removal Transactions:

https://etherscan.io/tx/0x73dc92bd…964ac4

https://etherscan.io/tx/0x7449f08a…970edb

https://etherscan.io/tx/0x4913d816…c7ea2b

Incident Report

Protocol / Project SPROUT

Date of Incident September 07, 2023

Attack Technique Rugpull

Classification Token

Protocol Information

Protocol Type Exit Scam/Rugpull

Affected Token SPROUT

Official Website www.spot.cash

Protocol Twitter/X @spotprotocol

Team Anonymous

Source Code Verified On-Chain

Market Context at Time of Hack

Token Categories

Ethereum Ecosystem Base Ecosystem

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 SPROUT'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 SPROUT, these are the critical security checks that could have prevented this incident (September 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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Threat Assessment

Severity Level

LOW

Attack Vector Rugpull
Root Cause Token
Year 2023

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