Hacker loses 5 ETH due to failed attempt to hack Rainbow Bridge

The platform’s automatic security system blocked the attack in 31 seconds

23.08.2022 - 11:30

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2 min

What’s new? On August 22, a hacker lost 5 ETH (about $8 000) while trying to attack the Rainbow Bridge cross-chain protocol, which connects the Ethereum and NEAR Protocol blockchains. According to Alex Shevchenko, CEO of Aurora Labs, the attack “was mitigated automatically within 31 seconds,” with user funds unaffected. The failed hacking attempt occurred after the hacker added a fabricated NEAR block to the Rainbow Bridge contract. The transaction required a deposit of 5 ETH, but an automated security system challenged the transaction, resulting in the attacker losing his funds.

Alex Shevchenko’s blog

What else is known about the incident? A similar attempt to hack Rainbow Bridge occurred on May 1, at that time the attacker lost 2,5 ETH. Back then, Shevchenko stated that “the bridge architecture was designed to resist such attacks.”

12 / 18Attacker lost 2.5 ETH, which was payed to the MEV bot because of the successful challenge.— Alex Shevchenko 🇺🇦 (@AlexAuroraDev) May 1, 2022

The head of Aurora Labs also noted that the attacker should have considered an alternative way of making money — the bug bounty. The company offers white-collar hackers a reward of up to $1 million for preventing hacks and checking code. It has already paid out $6 million under this program.

In May, the developers of the Wormhole cross-chain protocol paid a white hat hacker $10 million for detecting a critical bug. An unknown person under the nickname satya0x reported a vulnerability in the smart contract, with which attackers could have blocked all users’ assets.

Analysts at Chainalysis reported that since the beginning of the year there have been 13 attacks on cross-chain protocols, hackers managed to steal $2 billion. These hacks accounted for 69% of all hacker attacks in 2022. The company noted that the vulnerabilities of such platforms are becoming the main threat to the security of the blockchain technology sphere.

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