Tenderize V2 Hack

TOTAL LOST $11K
Low Proxy Upgrade Skim ethereum

Summarize with AI

Affected Chain ethereum Incident surface
Recovered - No recovery reported
All-Time Rank #1938 By amount stolen
Auditors 1 Prior security audit

Incident Overview

Liquid Staking 2.0 - Stake to the validator of your choice and earn staking rewards. Use your validator specific LSTs in DeFi.

Incident Report

Protocol / Project Tenderize V2
Date of Incident
Affected Chain(s) ethereum
Attack Technique Proxy Upgrade Skim
Classification Protocol Logic
Primary Source View Post-Mortem

Protocol Information

Protocol Type Liquid Staking
Smart Contract Language Solidity
Official Website tenderize.me
Protocol Twitter/X @tenderize_me

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 proxy upgrade skim and Solidity and EVM internals
Capital Required Seed capital to cover gas and initial position setup
On-Chain Access Ability to interact with ethereum smart contracts and deploy a custom exploit contract
Protocol Analysis Identification of the exploitable vulnerability in Tenderize V2's contract logic - root cause: protocol logic
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? Likely — with a thorough Proxy Upgrade Skim audit checklist and test coverage
Audited by Audit Report 1 — still lost $11K. Prior audits don't guarantee safety, especially after post-audit code changes.

If you're auditing a protocol with similar architecture to Tenderize V2, these are the critical security checks that could have prevented this incident (April 2025).

  • Verify all logic paths related to Proxy Upgrade Skim 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

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Security Audit History

Sources & References

Learn to Prevent the Next Tenderize V2

The Tenderize V2 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.

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