How much was lost in the YAYO hack?

The YAYO hack resulted in $80K in losses on February 05, 2023.

What attack technique was used in the YAYO exploit?

The YAYO 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.

YAYO Hack

TOTAL LOST $80K

Low Feb 05, 2023 Rugpull

Affected Chain 2023 Incident surface

Recovered - No recovery reported

All-Time Rank #1598 By amount stolen

Auditors 1 Prior security audit

Incident Overview

Quick Summary

On Feb 5, 2023, the team behind the YAYO Token token executed a rug pull, resulting in a loss of funds worth $80k USD.

Details of the Exploit

The attack on the YAYO Token token involved the token contract deployer manipulating the liquidity pool by removing liquidity from the pair contract and selling a large quantity of tokens on the market. This resulted in a rapid drop in the token's price by approximately 90%. The deployer took advantage of their ability to manipulate the liquidity pool and market to execute a rug pull, effectively stealing funds from investors.

The exploit highlights the importance of careful token contract design and the need for investors to perform due diligence before investing in new projects.

Block Data Reference

Deployer:

https://polygonscan.com/address/0x9d49d27c…8115cf

Remove liquidity:

https://polygonscan.com/tx/0x6209de9a…fb67a4

Incident Report

Protocol / Project YAYO

Date of Incident February 05, 2023

Attack Technique Rugpull

Classification Token

Primary Source View Post-Mortem

Protocol Information

Protocol Type SoFi

Affected Token YAYO

Official Website portal.yay.space/stake

Protocol Twitter/X @YayoCorp

Team Anonymous

Source Code Unverified

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 YAYO'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

Audited by Audit Report 1 — still lost $80K. Prior audits don't guarantee safety, especially after post-audit code changes.

If you're auditing a protocol with similar architecture to YAYO, these are the critical security checks that could have prevented this incident (February 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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Security Audit History

Audit Report 1 Report

Sources & References

01
Source 1 https://twitter.com/CertiKAlert/status/1622035321847435265?s=20

Threat Assessment

Severity Level

LOW

Attack Vector Rugpull
Root Cause Token
Year 2023

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