How much was lost in the TopGoal hack?

The TopGoal hack resulted in $1.1M in losses on February 16, 2022.

What attack technique was used in the TopGoal exploit?

The TopGoal exploit utilized Access Control. 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.

TopGoal Hack

TOTAL LOST $1.1M

Medium Feb 16, 2022 Access Control

Affected Chain 2022 Incident surface

Recovered - No recovery reported

All-Time Rank #803 By amount stolen

Protocol Type Exploit/Access control Target category

Incident Overview

The TopGoal team stated, that the TopGoal operational wallet has been attacked and compromised.

When the attacker gained control over the operational wallet, he transferred TMT tokens on the external wallet at:

https://bscscan.com/tx/0x3e6d325f…9378ed

https://bscscan.com/tx/0x603a5d14…46e4b8

https://bscscan.com/tx/0x044b5dd0…181a61

https://bscscan.com/tx/0x65a00d30…c3f655

https://bscscan.com/tx/0x710c51dd…fd5289

https://bscscan.com/tx/0xa32dfa25…e77dd3

The token recipient then sold the token on PancakeSwap and deposited stolen funds into Tornado Cash mixer at:

https://explorer.bitquery.io/bsc/txs/transfers?sender=0x7f0d082d…9d1a6e&currency=BNB

This is classified as a Access Control Attacks . Compare similar hacks →

Incident Report

Protocol / Project TopGoal

Date of Incident February 16, 2022

Attack Technique Access Control

Classification NFT

Primary Source View Post-Mortem

Protocol Information

Protocol Type Exploit/Access control

Affected Token TMT

Official Website topgoal.io/

Protocol Twitter/X @TopGoal_NFT

Team Public / Doxxed

Source Code Unverified

Market Context at Time of Hack

Token Categories

Sports Collectibles & NFTs Chiliz Chain Ecosystem BNB Chain Ecosystem Soccer DWF Labs Portfolio

Protocol Links

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 Operational-security tradecraft (phishing, malware, leaked seed phrases, or insider access) to obtain treasury signing authority

Capital Required Minimal capital - only enough to cover gas while draining the compromised accounts

On-Chain Access Valid signing authority over the compromised wallets / multisig signers, allowing direct transfer of funds or stake authorization

Target Reconnaissance Identification of TopGoal's high-value treasury accounts and the authority / multisig structure controlling them

Execution Speed Speed to drain the compromised accounts before the team detects the breach and revokes signing authority or freezes the assets

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 Access Control audit checklist and test coverage

If you're auditing a protocol with similar architecture to TopGoal, these are the critical security checks that could have prevented this incident (February 2022).

Verify all logic paths related to Access Control are guarded by proper access controls and input validation - see the Access Control Attacks attack class for patterns
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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Related Attack Classes

The technique used in this hack maps to these vulnerability classes in our security curriculum:

See all Access Control Attacks examples →

Access Control Attacks

Sources & References

01
Source 1 https://twitter.com/TopGoal_NFT/status/1493889237753610241

Threat Assessment

Severity Level

MEDIUM

Attack Vector Access Control
Root Cause NFT
Year 2022

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