Attackers stole over 7,500 ETH after gaining access to Uniswap LPs via a malicious airdrop contract
A Uniswap user has lost over $8 million worth of Ethereum (ETH) after an attacker used a malicious airdrop contract to target the project’s liquidity providers (LPs).
According to a MetaMask security researcher Harry Denley, some 73,399 wallet addresses connected to Uniswap were sent a malicious token masquerading as a token airdrop.
The message claimed to airdrop UNI tokens to liquidity providers based on the number of fake LP tokens they received.
The malicious UniswapLP token appeared to come from a legitimate ‘Uniswap V3: Positions NFT’ contract by manipulating the ‘From’ field in the blockchain transaction explorer.
A liquidity provider is someone who provides their crypto assets to a platform to help with decentralisation of trading. In return they are rewarded with fees generated by trades on the platform, which can be thought of as a form of passive income.
One person, who was providing over $8 million worth of wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC) and USD coin (USDC) to a WBTC/USDC liquidity pool, unknowingly interacted with the phishing message. The attacker then gained control of the wallet, exited the LP’s positions and withdrew all the liquidity from Uniswap.
Blockchain data further shows that the attacker began moving stolen funds through the privacy protocol Tornado Cash on Tuesday.
Mohadesa Najumi is a British writer who has worked within crypto, forex, financial technology, and the stock market industry. Mohadesa received her MSc in Political Science and International Relations at the University of Amsterdam.