How much was lost in the TIM3 hack?

The TIM3 hack resulted in $25K in losses on November 23, 2020.

What attack technique was used in the TIM3 exploit?

The TIM3 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.

TIM3 Hack

TOTAL LOST $25K

Low Nov 23, 2020 Rugpull ethereum

Affected Chain ethereum Incident surface

Recovered - No recovery reported

All-Time Rank #1857 By amount stolen

Protocol Type Exit Scam/Rugpull Target category

Incident Overview

The deployer of this unverified contract https://etherscan.io/address/0x8d1fdf87…2758f3#code invoked swap() function at the following transaction:

https://etherscan.io/tx/0x4a380439…97c0e0

The mentioned above caused the liquidity drain from the contract to the contract deployer address. Example transaction:

https://etherscan.io/tx/0xf685c3ff…f41854

Incident Report

Protocol / Project TIM3

Date of Incident November 23, 2020

Affected Chain(s) ethereum

Attack Technique Rugpull

Classification Token

Protocol Information

Protocol Type Exit Scam/Rugpull

Affected Token TIM3

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 ethereum smart contracts and deploy a custom exploit contract

Protocol Analysis Identification of the exploitable vulnerability in TIM3'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 TIM3, these are the critical security checks that could have prevented this incident (November 2020).

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 2020

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