Incident Overview
The XDX Swap (DDEX) on the Heco chain’s cross-chain decentralized exchange DDEX was attacked on July 2. The attacker received 85.17 ETH (about $176,000) and transferred it to the Ethereum network. There appeared to be a backdoor in the DDEX code.
With the help and collaboration from DDEX, Star Labs, and the HECO White Hat Security Alliance, XDX Swap has recovered the majority of the funds involved in this incident, totaling more than $5M.
Incident Report
Protocol Information
Market Context at Time of Hack
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.
What Auditors Should Check
If you're auditing a protocol with similar architecture to XDX Swap, these are the critical security checks that could have prevented this incident (July 2021).
- Verify all logic paths related to 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.
Free TrialFunds Recovery
Recovered
$5.0M
Net Loss
0
Sources & References
Learn to Prevent the Next XDX Swap
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