OKX DEX Hit by $2.7M Hack: Decentralized Exchange Vulnerabilities

On December 13, the OKX decentralized exchange (DEX) was the victim of a hack that resulted in a loss of $2.7 million. The cause of the hack was the disclosure of the private key of the proxy admin owner.

On December 13, the blockchain security company SlowMist Zone tweeted that OKX DEX “encountered an issue.” As stated in the report, the problem started on December 12, 2023, at around 10:23 p.m., when the proxy admin owner upgraded the DEX proxy contract to a new implementation contract.

At that time, the user started stealing tokens. After that, at approximately 11:53 p.m., the owner of the proxy admin made another upgrade to the contract, and the user proceeded to exploit tokens. SlowMist’s research at the time suggested that the attack “may” have resulted from the compromise of the key belonging to the proxy admin owner.

Later, it was determined that the platform should remove the DEX proxy from its trusted list. Scopescan, a company that specializes in on-chain analysis, reported that users were reporting the occurrence of the attack.

After calling the DEX, Scopescan informed that the attack targeted an old abandoned contract, which was subsequently located and suspended. Furthermore, the OKX DEX has assured that it will fully bear any user damages resulting from the hack at all times.

PeckShield, a blockchain security business, reported that the attack on OKX DEX resulted in a loss of approximately $2.7 million worth of cryptocurrency. PeckShield instructed users to “please revoke allowances” if there were any.

One of the users of X issued a reminder that just because something is “decentralized” does not necessarily indicate that assets are safe. The reminder was issued in light of the attack. According to studies conducted up until September 2023, the cryptocurrency business has experienced losses of $1.5 billion as a result of hacks, exploits, and scams in the current year.

To this point in the fourth quarter, Poloniex has been subjected to an exploit that has resulted in losses of more than one hundred million dollars in digital assets, and the hack of the HECO Chain Bridge has resulted in losses of more than eighty million dollars.