Hackers attacked Uniswap users via fake airdrop — what you need to know

Binance exchange CEO Changpeng Zhao reported that the site researchers discovered a potential vulnerability in the third version of Uniswap (DeFi protocol used to exchange cryptocurrency) Uniswap. However, it later turned out that it was a phishing attack on the users, not a protocol vulnerability. Here’s what we know about that.

The total number of Uniswap users in May 2022 was about 3.9 million. According to Zhao’s tweet, their threat intel detected a potential exploit on Uniswap V3 on the ETH blockchain. The hacker has stolen 4295 ETH (~$4.6 million at the moment of writing), and this money is now being laundered through Tornado Cash (a protocol that allows users to send in some cryptocurrency using their wallets and get it back via different addresses). 

Later blockchain security company PeckShield stated that there was an attack on the liquidity provider.

“It is now an exploit on Uniswap. Instead, someone with the UniswapV3 liquidity position got phished to approve their position,” says the report. 

Security expert Harry Denley was one of the first to reveal the phishing campaign. He noted that hackers sent malicious tokens under the guise of an airdrop from Uniswap to more than 70 thousand addresses.

Victims interested in the tokens are redirected to the scam site. Later, the hackers steal the funds. At the moment of writing, the number of affected users and the total amount of damage are not yet known. 

Uniswap protocol creator Hayden Adams confirmed that it was a phishing campaign. He advised users not to click on links that might be malicious.