How much was lost in the Web hack?

The Web hack resulted in $179K in losses on November 23, 2023.

What attack technique was used in the Web exploit?

The Web 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.

Web Hack

TOTAL LOST $179K

Low Nov 23, 2023 Rugpull

Affected Chain 2023 Incident surface

Recovered - No recovery reported

All-Time Rank #1339 By amount stolen

Protocol Type Exit Scam/Rugpull Target category

Incident Overview

Quick Summary

WEB token was rugpulled by deployer, removing liquidity worth 217,791 USD from PancakeSwap pool, resulting in a total loss of 178,964 USD.

Details of the Exploit

WEB is a BEP20 token trading on PancakeSwap. On Nov 23, 2023, the deployer removed liquidity from the LP pool in an exit scam. The attacker removed 921.35 WBNB, equivalent to approximately 217,791 USD.

The stolen funds were then transferred to another EOA address and subsequently distributed among multiple addresses.

Block Data Reference

Deployer Address:

https://bscscan.com/address/0xc9975826…0b8f25

Liquidity Adding Transaction:

https://bscscan.com/tx/0x18c903c1…b6c142

Liquidity Removal Transaction:

https://bscscan.com/tx/0xfb905622…a42260

Incident Report

Protocol / Project Web

Date of Incident November 23, 2023

Attack Technique Rugpull

Classification Token

Primary Source View Post-Mortem

Protocol Information

Protocol Type Exit Scam/Rugpull

Affected Token WEB

Official Website webuynft.xyz/

Protocol Twitter/X @WerentOfficial

Team Anonymous

Source Code Verified On-Chain

Market Context at Time of Hack

Token Categories

Klaytn Ecosystem

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 rugpull and Solidity and EVM internals

Capital Required Seed capital to cover gas and initial position setup

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

Protocol Analysis Identification of the exploitable vulnerability in Web'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 Web, these are the critical security checks that could have prevented this incident (November 2023).

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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Sources & References

01
Source 1 https://twitter.com/PeckShieldAlert/status/1727901997490454841

Threat Assessment

Severity Level

LOW

Attack Vector Rugpull
Root Cause Token
Year 2023

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