How much was lost in the Velodrome hack?

The Velodrome hack resulted in $250K in losses on November 29, 2023.

What attack technique was used in the Velodrome exploit?

The Velodrome exploit utilized DNS Hijack. 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.

Velodrome Hack

TOTAL LOST $250K

Low Nov 29, 2023 DNS Hijack optimism

Affected Chain optimism Incident surface

Recovered - No recovery reported

All-Time Rank #1474 By amount stolen

Year 2023 Incident year

Incident Report

Protocol / Project Velodrome

Date of Incident November 29, 2023

Affected Chain(s) optimism

Attack Technique DNS Hijack

Classification Frontend & Infrastructure

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 dns hijack and Solidity and EVM internals

Capital Required Seed capital to cover gas and initial position setup

On-Chain Access Ability to interact with optimism smart contracts and deploy a custom exploit contract

Protocol Analysis Identification of the exploitable vulnerability in Velodrome's contract logic - root cause: frontend & infrastructure

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 DNS Hijack audit checklist and test coverage

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

Verify all logic paths related to DNS Hijack 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 DNS Hijack
Root Cause Frontend & Infrastructure
Year 2023

Learn to Prevent the Next Velodrome

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Incident Report

What the Attacker Needed to Succeed

What Auditors Should Check

Related Hacks - DNS Hijack

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