Unibot Hack

TOTAL LOST $673K
Low Token approval exploit / Other ethereum

Summarize with AI

ChatGPT Perplexity Claude Grok
Affected Chain ethereum Incident surface
Recovered - No recovery reported
All-Time Rank #929 By amount stolen
Protocol Type Telegram Bot Target category

Incident Overview

Quick Summary

UniBot trading terminal exploited on Ethereum chain, leading to a loss of 673,317 USD (355.5 ETH) due to a token approval issue.

Details of the Exploit

UniBot, a Crypto Trading Terminal running on the Ethereum chain, was exploited on October 31, 2023, due to a token approval issue. The exploit was related to trades made against a newly deployed router contract that was vulnerable. Approximately 600 wallets were affected by the exploit, resulting in a total loss of around 673,317 USD (355.5 ETH).

Block Data Reference

Attacker Address:

https://etherscan.io/address/0x413e4Fb7…AB4d04

Malicious Transaction:

https://etherscan.io/tx/0xa571419f…59b6a7

Malicious Contract Address:

https://etherscan.io/address/0x2b326a17…231a6f

Tornado Cash Deposit Transaction:

https://etherscan.io/tx/0x30508db6…22e308

Incident Report

Protocol / Project Unibot
Date of Incident
Affected Chain(s) ethereum
Attack Technique Token approval exploit / Other
Classification Protocol Logic / Other / Exchange (DEX)
Primary Source View Post-Mortem

Protocol Information

Protocol Type Telegram Bot
Affected Token UNIBOT
Smart Contract Language Solidity
Official Website unibot.app/home
Protocol Twitter/X @TeamUnibot
Team Anonymous
Source Code Verified On-Chain

Market Context at Time of Hack

Token Categories
Communications & Social Media Ethereum Ecosystem Telegram Bot AI Applications
Protocol Links

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 token approval exploit / other 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 Unibot's contract logic - root cause: protocol logic / other / exchange (dex)
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 Token approval exploit / Other audit checklist and test coverage

If you're auditing a protocol with similar architecture to Unibot, these are the critical security checks that could have prevented this incident (October 2023).

  • Verify all logic paths related to Token approval exploit / 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.

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Proof-of-Concept Exploits

1 PoC available
poc-exploits - unibot
$ UniBotRouter Arbitrary External Call

On-Chain Evidence & References

Sources & References

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