A hacker exploited the Polkadot-based cross-chain interoperability protocol Hyperbridge, netting about $237,000 and elevating renewed safety considerations about blockchain bridge infrastructure.
An attacker minted 1 billion bridged Polkadot (DOT) tokens in a single transaction on Hyperbridge, in line with blockchain information shared by cybersecurity platform CertiK. The exploit solely affected DOT on Ethereum that was bridged by Hyperbridge, whereas native DOT tokens and the broader Polkadot ecosystem stay unaffected, Polkadot famous in a Monday X put up.
CertiK stated the hacker managed to mint the tokens after he “slipped by a solid message to alter the admin of Polkadot token contract on Ethereum.” Restricted liquidity within the bridged DOT pool capped the proceeds at 108.2 Ether (ETH), value round $237,000.
Hyperbridge pauses operations after exploit
Hyperbridge paused operations after the assault whereas the group labored on an improve, with contributor Web3 Thinker saying the preliminary analysis pointed to a malicious proof that fooled the protocol’s Merkle tree verifier.
The exploit is notable as a result of Hyperbridge has marketed itself as a proof-based interoperability layer constructed to ship “full node safety” for crosschain bridges. The incident additionally follows Aethir’s disclosure final week that it had contained a separate bridge exploit and stored consumer losses under $90,000.
Cybersecurity analysis firm Blocksec Falcon stated the doubtless root reason behind the exploit was a Merkle Mountain Vary (MMR) proof replay vulnerability brought on by lacking proof-to-request binding, although the ultimate root trigger has not but been confirmed by the protocol.
The native DOT token briefly dipped to a every day low of $1.16 on Monday, earlier than recovering to commerce above $1.19 on the time of writing, in accordance to CoinGecko.
Hackers exploit SubQuery community for $130,000
Safety incidents proceed to hit crypto protocols regardless of a pointy year-over-year drop in DeFi exploit losses.
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On Sunday, the information indexing protocol SubQuery Community was additionally exploited for round $130,000 because of lacking entry management information that uncovered the code written over two years in the past.
The vulnerability enabled the attacker to set his personal contract because the withdrawal goal for staking rewards, blockchain safety auditor Pashov stated in a Sunday X put up.
Hackers stole over $168 million from 34 decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols within the first quarter of 2026, marking a big decline from the $1.58 billion stolen within the first quarter of 2025, when the report $1.4 billion Bybit hack occurred.
Cointelegraph has contacted Hyperbridge for touch upon the foundation reason behind the exploit.
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