Key takeaways:
- Protocol for cross-chain bridges Two-thirds of the money taken from the protocol in a recent hack has been recouped by Socket.
- The hack’s perpetrator used a token approval from an Ethereum address that ended in 97a5 on January 16 to execute the exploit.
Protocol for cross-chain bridges Two-thirds of the money taken from the protocol in a recent hack has been recouped by Socket.
Of the $3.3 million that was taken, 1,032 Ether worth $2.3 million have been successfully recovered, according to the socket protocol’s official X account. Users will soon be able to access a recovery and distribution plan thanks to the protocol.
Additionally, Socket gave thanks to several on-chain analytics accounts for their assistance in getting the money back.
The hack’s perpetrator used a token approval from an Ethereum address that ended in 97a5 on January 16 to execute the exploit. The wallets with infinite approvals to Socket contracts were affected by the exploit.
A net loss of approximately $3.3 million was incurred by 219 users due to the vulnerability. After only a few hours after the exploit, the cross-chain interoperability protocol found and fixed the problem, and the bridge was back in service in just 24 hours.
Until each user’s allowed limit was reached, the attacker drained resources using the over-approval vulnerability in the Socket platform. The perpetrator took advantage of pre-approved balances that were never crossed. If users had not proactively canceled authorization, they would have lost these unused restrictions.
The vulnerability, which affected customers who had accepted the weak SocketGateway contract, originated from insufficient validation of user input, according to data analytics company PeckShield.
Three days prior to the exploit, the malicious gateway was introduced, according to the security firm. It was advised that users rescind all permissions from this address, which Etherscan displays as “Socket: Gateway.”
The initial financial drain was not the only aspect of the breach. Phishing scammers also posted a link to dangerous software on a phony Socket account, advising users to use another malicious app to rescind their approvals, according to the Socket X post.
Interoperability protocols, also known as cross-chain bridges, are essential for facilitating communication across various decentralized protocols, yet, they have also turned into a main target for malevolent actors. Cross-chain bridges have been the site of some of the biggest decentralized finance (DeFi) feats in recent years.
