Crypto bridge aggregator Bungee suffered a significant setback as a bug in its underlying technology led to users collectively losing $3.3 million. Over 200 wallets using Bungee’s Socket route on Ethereum witnessed a draining of funds at approximately 8:11 pm London time. The incident, attributed to a bug deployed by Socket three days earlier, exploited approvals granted by users for bridging transactions, allowing the hacker to drain tokens without the need for additional user transactions. Following the attack, Socket paused the exploited smart contract to prevent further damage.
Socket, an interoperability protocol facilitating data and asset transfers across chains, manages the underlying technology of the Bungee bridge aggregator. The exploited bug inadvertently deployed in a new smart contract enabled the hacker to target users who had previously utilized the Bungee bridge to send tokens from Ethereum to other blockchains. The majority of the stolen tokens, exceeding $2.9 million, were converted into Ether, while smaller amounts of Polygon’s Matic token, wrapped versions of Bitcoin and Ethereum, and MakerDAO’s Dai stablecoin remained in the hacker’s wallet. This incident adds to the growing list of bridge hacks that have plagued the decentralized finance (DeFi) sector in recent years.
Security researcher officercia revealed that the bug allowed the hacker to exploit previous approvals granted by users for bridging transactions, a common practice in DeFi protocols. Users, often unaware of the extended spending permissions granted, had their funds drained without the need for additional transactions. officercia emphasized the importance of revoking approvals after transactions, a precautionary measure that could have prevented the hacker from stealing the crypto. The incident underscores the ongoing challenges and security risks in the DeFi space, prompting a call for users to adopt better security practices to protect their funds in the evolving landscape of decentralized technologies.
