Radiant Capital, a multi-chain DeFi lending protocol, recently suffered a significant security breach, losing $53 million. The exploit occurred across two blockchain networks, Binance Smart Chain (BSC) and Arbitrum.
Radiant Capital Acknowledges Exploit
Ironically, the incident struck the protocol during its RIZ BSC market launch celebration. While the protocol shared event updates, malicious actors exploited vulnerabilities. This highlights the need for vigilance during milestone events as joyous moments can also present opportunities for bad actors to strike.
After a few hours into the attack, the protocol acknowledged technical issues affecting its lending markets BSC and Arbitrum. In response, the protocol claimed to collaborate with security experts including SEAL911, Hypernative, ZeroShadow, and Chainalysis to swiftly resolve the matter.
As a precautionary measure, lending markets on Base and Ethereum have been temporarily suspended until further notice. They further urged users to revoke affected contracts using revoke.cash.
What Happened?
According to insights from blockchain security auditor QuillAudits, the Radiant Capital exploit occurred when an attacker gained control of three out of eleven signer accounts, allowing them to execute malicious transactions. This vulnerability enabled the attacker to steal funds by swapping several tokens for the native coins in each affected network.
Notably, fourteen days before the attack, the attacker created a contract crucial to the exploit. The attacker then used this contract to call a multi-call function, which executed multiple transactions simultaneously.
By exploiting the multi-call function, the attacker took ownership of Radiant Capital’s contract, echoing the DeltaPrime hack. This granted them control over the platform’s funds. Subsequently, the attacker drained $53 million from Radiant Capital’s pools, transferring the funds to their addresses.
Can Protocol Recover?
Radiant Capital’s recent hack has put its financial stability to the test. With a yearly revenue of $3.39 million, it is facing a significant shortfall compared to the $53 million lost in the exploit. This substantial gap raises concerns about their ability to recover from the breach.
Meanwhile, the hack’s impact on the protocol’s native token, RDNT, has been drastic, with its value plummeting over 11%. This sharp decline reflects the market’s diminished confidence in the protocol’s security.
Ancilia Shares Malicious Link to the Exploit Victims
The first crypto security firm to alert users about the exploit, Ancilia mistakenly shared a link to a crypto wallet drainer while attempting to assist users affected by the Radiant Capital exploit. Pseudonymous X user shared a screenshot of Ancilia’s now-deleted post.
The incident occurred as Radiant Capital users rushed to revoke permissions following the lending protocol’s hack. Ancilia’s instructions to “follow the link from this official message” put users at greater risk.
