Ethereum-Solana Cross-Chain DeFi Protocol Warmhole Hacked for $320 Million in ETH

03. Feb 2022 Posted by Akolkar B on News

In one of the major DeFi exploits reported on Tuesday, February 2, hackers managed to steal $320 million from Warmhole, a cross-chain bridge connecting the Ethereum and Solana blockchain networks.

As per the details, the hackers managed to steal 120k wrapped ETH (wETH) from the platform. Confirming the same, the DeFi protocol made an announcement stating: “The wormhole network was exploited for 120k wETH. ETH will be added over the next hours to ensure wETH is backed 1:1. More details to come shortly. We are working to get the network back up quickly. Thanks for your patience”.

This has been the second biggest DeFi exploit ever just after the $600 million Poly Network heist. An investigation into the matter shows that the attacker exploited a vulnerability on the Solana side of the bridge by creating 120k wrapped Ethereum tokens for themselves.

DeFi bridges like the Warmhole are common in transferring transactions from one blockchain to the other. These bridges usually serve as an escrow holding hundreds of millions of dollars.

Trying to do the damage repair there, Warmhole is trying to convince the attacker to return the stolen funds. It has also made an offer of $10 million for the same.

DeFi hacks have been on the rise over the last year. Just last week DeFi platform Quit Finance lost a staggering $80 million after the attackers managed to breach the network by stealing 206,809 Binance coins, by exploiting a vulnerability in one of the Ethereum blockchain contracts.

Multiple DeFi hacks have been reported over the last year with attackers exploiting users for millions of dollars. Considering the fact that Warmhole was the second-biggest cross-chain DeFi bridge protocol, the developers really need to think about the security.

Following the hack, the Warmhole network was brought down for maintenance. The vulnerability has been patched as the team is working on getting the network back and running once again.

Earlier this month, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has voiced his opinion against using bridges. Earlier this month, Buterin presented a detailed argument explaining that there are fundamental security issues with the use of bridges. He said: “the future will be *multi-chain*, but it will not be *cross-chain*: there are fundamental limits to the security of bridges that hop across multiple "zones of sovereignty”.