NEAR Intents Identifies Hacker Behind $3.8M Breach, Issues 48-Hour Recovery Ultimatum
The protocol gives the attacker a final window to return stolen funds following a critical bug in its deposit and withdrawal infrastructure.
Breach Identified, Ultimatum Issued
NEAR Intents has announced that it has identified the attacker responsible for a security breach that resulted in the theft of $3.8 million in user funds. According to NEAR Intents, general manager Alex Shevchenko disclosed the identification on Friday, giving the attacker a 48-hour window to return the stolen assets under a responsible disclosure framework. In his announcement, Shevchenko stated “We have identified you, sir,” and provided three wallet addresses for the return of funds in Bitcoin, BNB, and Solana.
The Vulnerability and Immediate Response
The attack occurred on Thursday when NEAR Intents detected a bug in its Omni deposit and withdrawal infrastructure’s interaction with the NEAR Intents smart contract. This vulnerability allowed the attacker to extract approximately $3.8 million in user funds before the protocol detected the incident. Upon discovery, NEAR Intents immediately paused its services to prevent further exploitation and launched an investigation into the full scope of the breach. The team has pledged to compensate all affected users in full, independent of whether the stolen funds are recovered.
Fund Tracking and Investigation Progress
Blockchain investigator ZachXBT tracked the movement of stolen assets through on-chain analysis, revealing that the attacker transferred the funds to the KuCoin exchange before bridging them to the Bitcoin network. This tracking provides investigators with crucial intelligence about the attacker’s exit strategy and may enable potential recovery efforts through exchange cooperation. The reliance on centralized exchange infrastructure creates opportunities for further investigation and possible asset recovery through legal channels.
The NEAR Intents incident highlights the vulnerability risks inherent in complex smart contract systems and reinforces the importance of comprehensive security audits and ongoing monitoring in the DeFi sector, a lesson that applies across all blockchain protocols seeking to protect user assets and maintain market confidence.
Source: NEAR Intents, via Cointelegraph. Not financial advice.