Uniswap Liquidity Pool Hit With Phishing Attack Totaling $3.5M in Ether
The phishing campaign is part of a much wider hack and is not considered an exploit, according to several users and Uniswap’s founder
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key takeaways
- A phishing attack has hit a major liquidity pool provider for roughly $3.5 million in ether
- The hack is part of a much wider attack against the protocol’s users, according to Metamask security analyst Harry Denley
A hacker, or group of hackers, executing a phishing campaign on a major Uniswap V3 liquidity pool has made off with NFT positions worth roughly 3,278 ether ($3.56 million).
Detected Monday by several users and Binance’s threat intelligence department, the hacker managed to impersonate Uniswap’s website and dupe a liquidity pool provider into signing malicious transactions.
Uniswap’s liquidity positions on its third iteration are represented as NFTs (non-fungible tokens) which enable users to utilize them as collateral to receive a loan paid out in stablecoins and blue-chip assets.
All but 70 ether ($76,900) have been laundered through crypto mixing service Tornado Cash, according to on-chain data of the address identified as the attacker.
It appears the victim is part of a much wider attack that targeted roughly 73,399 addresses by sending a malicious token — acting under the false pretense as a UNI airdrop — in an attempt to get users to sign, according to MetaMask security analyst Harry Denley.
The exact amount taken via the campaign is not yet known. A spokesperson for Uniswap Labs directed us to the company’s explanation of the incident.
“A phishing attack that resulted in some liquidity pool NFTs being taken from individuals who approved malicious transactions,” Uniswap founder Hayden Adams later confirmed in a follow-up tweet. “Totally separate from the protocol. A good reminder to protect yourself from phishing and not click on malicious links.”
Binance CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao said late Monday he had spoken with Uniswap’s team and assured users the protocol was “safe.”
“The attack looks like…a phishing attack. Both teams responded quickly. All good. Sorry for the alarm,” the CEO tweeted.
The price of UNI, the protocol’s native token, is down more than 11% on the day, from $6.29 to $5.56, exchange data shows.
Sam Martin contributed to reporting.
This story was updated on July 13, 2022, at 3:55 pm ET with a comment from Uniswap Labs.
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