Ethereum's SIR.trading Wiped Out in Daring $355K Exploit!

Hackers Strike Gold Using Ethereum's Newest Feature

Hold onto your hats, crypto fans! The Ethereum-based DeFi sensation, SIR.trading, known to the cool kids as Synthetics Implemented Right, got totally cleaned out in a slick exploit on March 30. Every last cent of its $355,000 total value locked? Gone, baby, gone!

The blockchain security gurus at TenArmor were the first to sound the alarm on March 30, spotting some seriously shady transactions. They pointed the finger at RailGun, a privacy platform that's like a cloak of invisibility for your cash, where the stolen loot was stashed.

Then, the security whizzes at Decurity dropped the bomb: the hacker pulled off this heist by exploiting a chink in SIR.trading's Vault contract armor, specifically in a function dubbed "uniswapV3SwapCallback." They called it a "clever attack," and boy, were they right!

Synthetics Implemented Right @leveragesir got hit hard for $355k. This wasn't just any hack; it was a masterclass in digital thievery. The vulnerable Vault contract had a uniswapV3SwapCallback function that used transient storage to check who's knocking at the door. But guess what? The hacker found a way to sneak in!

Blockchain brainiac Yi spilled the beans on another post, explaining that the contract's Achilles' heel was its way of checking transactions. It was supposed to only let in the cool kids from a Uniswap pool or other trusted sources.

But here's the twist: the contract was using transient storage, a newfangled temporary storage trick that came with Ethereum's EIP-1153 upgrade, aka the Dencun hard fork.

The catch? Transient storage resets only after a transaction wraps up, but our crafty hacker figured out how to mess with the security data while the transaction was still in play. They tricked the contract into thinking their fake address was the real deal.

How'd they do it? By brute-forcing a vanity address that made the contract think they were legit. Then, they used a custom contract to suck out all the funds from SIR.trading's vault. Talk about a digital heist!

The mastermind behind SIR.trading, the mysterious Xatarrer, owned up to the attack, calling it "the worst news a protocol could receive." They reached out to the community for advice on what to do next and hinted at a comeback, despite the massive hit.

This exploit might just be the first time hackers have used Ethereum's shiny new feature in the wild, and it's got everyone wondering about the safety of transient storage. Security experts are sounding the alarm, warning that unless developers beef up their smart contracts, we might see more of these audacious attacks.