Wormhole Bridge
HackedInfrastructure · born 2021 · ✝ 2022
A Solana-Ethereum bridge exploited for ~$325M in minted wETH.
Wormhole is a cross-chain bridge connecting Solana and Ethereum. In 2022 an attacker exploited a signature-verification flaw to mint 120,000 wETH (~$325M) without backing; Jump Crypto refilled the hole.
- Peak
- ~$325M exploited
- Cause
- Hacked
- Year of death
- 2022
☠️ Cause of death
A bug in the bridge's signature verification let the attacker forge approval to mint wrapped ETH on Solana without depositing collateral.
📓 Lessons left behind
- —Signature-verification bugs can let attackers mint unbacked assets.
- —Bridges concentrate enormous value and attacker incentive.
- —Deep-pocketed backers can paper over losses, but the flaw is the lesson.
🌱 The idea that survived
Audited cross-chain messaging
Wormhole survived via a bailout and pushed the industry toward rigorous bridge auditing and formal verification.
#bridge#exploit#solana