Allbridge Core Exploit forced the Allbridge protocol to pause its cross-chain bridge after an attacker managed to steal around $1.65 million by breaching the Solana deployment of the network. The Allbridge Core exploit happened when the attackers targeted the Solana deployment of the Allbridge protocol before transferring the stolen tokens to Ethereum. The company stopped all affected services in order to investigate the breach and advised liquidity providers to withdraw their funds.
According to onchain data, the attackers used a flash loan of about $1.12 million in USDC through Kamino before making rapid swaps of USDC and USDT. Those swaps helped to manipulate the exchange rate of stablecoin liquidity pools for a while, which allowed liquidity withdrawals at the manipulated rates. The flash loan was repaid immediately, while the rest of the funds were the attacker’s profit.
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Allbridge Core Exploit Used Flash Loan Manipulation
The Allbridge Core Exploit relied on flash loan manipulation to distort stablecoin pricing within the protocol’s Solana liquidity pools. Allbridge confirmed that the suspension was a precautionary step as the engineers are assessing the exploit. Also, the company asked those who took advantage of the manipulated exchange rate to return the funds to help pay back the affected liquidity providers.
The exploit is the second case of security issues related to the Allbridge Core. In April 2023, there was a loss of about $573,000 after the flash loan attack on BNB Chain due to swap pricing manipulation through a smart contract vulnerability. The latest exploit shows that flash loan-based attacks are still possible despite additional security measures in decentralized finance infrastructure.
Cross-Chain Bridge Security Faces Continued Pressure
Allbridge Core hack is just one more in a chain of bridge hacks reported from May onwards, showing that there remain many challenges associated with bridge security. In particular, cases with Taiko, Secret Network, Gravity Bridge, Verus Bridge, and Butter Network prove that bridges continue to be appealing objects for hacking since they work with large liquidity pools, securing funds of different blockchain networks.
The issue mostly impacts liquidity providers that are making use of the Solana pools offered by Allbridge Core. Furthermore, the problem also brings about bigger implications for users of decentralized finance who rely on cross-chain bridging. It highlights the importance of robust smart contract audits, continuous monitoring, and enhanced bridge security as cross-chain activity continues to expand across Solana, Ethereum, and other blockchain ecosystems.
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