How much was lost in the XSTABLE Protocol hack?

The XSTABLE Protocol hack resulted in $367K in losses on August 09, 2022.

What attack technique was used in the XSTABLE Protocol exploit?

The XSTABLE Protocol 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.

XSTABLE Protocol Hack

TOTAL LOST $367K

Low Aug 09, 2022 Rugpull

Affected Chain 2022 Incident surface

Recovered - No recovery reported

All-Time Rank #1093 By amount stolen

Protocol Type CDP Target category

Incident Overview

Quick Summary

The XSTABLE Protocol was rugpulled by its team.

Details of the Exploit

XStable claimed to be a new form of a synthetic commodity that operates with a free float that over a longer-term achieves stability and forms a volatility hedge across a basket of cryptocurrencies as well as fiat currencies.

The XStable Protocol token price has dropped by 98% after the team removed all traces of the existence of their project on the Internet. During the creation of the pair, the team added $70 ETH:

https://etherscan.io/tx/0x4e329c94…74de28

The community started buying tokens and liquidity increased to 303 $ETH in 2 days. After enough funds were added into the liquidity pool, the team began to swap $XST for $ETH, taking a profit of $233 ETH.

Block Data Reference

Involved addresses:

- Scammer address (A), contract creator: https://etherscan.io/address/0xcee3101c…bef6a6

Involved contracts:

- Liquidity Reserver: https://etherscan.io/address/0xdc958664…601c83

- Stabilizer: https://etherscan.io/address/0x16a17e12…c91289

- Presale: https://etherscan.io/address/0x79d25fb4…fbaa27

- Liquidity: https://etherscan.io/address/0x7a90d4c4…f027db

Transactions:

- Pair contract creation: https://etherscan.io/tx/0x4e329c94…74de28

0x81d3ec77438b4e99aa99ba25b1dbc3fea317fe3b0x81d3ec77438b4e99aa99ba25b1dbc3fea317fe3b

Incident Report

Protocol / Project XSTABLE Protocol

Date of Incident August 09, 2022

Attack Technique Rugpull

Classification Token

Primary Source View Post-Mortem #1 View Post-Mortem #2 View Post-Mortem #3

Protocol Information

Protocol Type CDP

Affected Token XST

Official Website ilikeitstable.com

Protocol Twitter/X @StabilisLabs

Team Anonymous

Source Code Verified On-Chain

Market Context at Time of Hack

Token Categories

Jobs Base Ecosystem

Protocol Links

GitHub 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 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 XSTABLE Protocol'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 XSTABLE Protocol, these are the critical security checks that could have prevented this incident (August 2022).

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://news.coincu.com/116095-2-rug-pull-projects-discovered-au…
02
Source 2 https://reportscamonline.com/crypto-scam-blacklist/crypto-xstabl…
03
Source 3 https://tokeninsight.com/en/news/peckshieldalert-xstable.protoco…

Threat Assessment

Severity Level

LOW

Attack Vector Rugpull
Root Cause Token
Year 2022

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