Incident Overview
On January 14, 2025, The Idols NFT (@TheIdolsNFT) on Ethereum lost around $340,000 in stETH.
The vulnerability stemmed from a self-transfer scenario where _beforeTokenTransfer triggered _claimEthRewards(_from) and then _claimEthRewards(_to), both referencing the same address. When the sender’s NFT balance was just one, their reward snapshot was deleted, resetting the record of claimed rewards. As a result, the attacker’s next reward calculation considered an unclaimed snapshot (treated as zero), repeatedly granting the full stETH share all over again.
By performing multiple self-transfers in a row, the attacker continually reset their reward snapshot, ultimately siphoning off roughly $340,000 worth of stETH.
Incident Report
Protocol Information
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.
What Auditors Should Check
If you're auditing a protocol with similar architecture to The Idols NFT, these are the critical security checks that could have prevented this incident (January 2025).
- Verify all logic paths related to Other 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 TrialSecurity Audit History
- Audit Report 1 Report
Sources & References
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