At WazirX, our commitment to transparency and community welfare is paramount. There was a cyber attack on one of our multisig wallets. Below are the preliminary findings to clarify the situation:
- Incident Overview: A cyber attack occurred in one of our multisig wallets involving a loss of funds exceeding $230 million. This wallet was operated utilising the services of Liminal’s digital asset custody and wallet infrastructure from February 2023.
- Wallet Configuration and Breach Mechanics: The wallet had six signatories—five from our WazirX team and one from Liminal, who were responsible for transaction verifications. A transaction typically requires approval from three of the WazirX signatories (all three of whom use Ledger Hardware Wallets for security), followed by the final approval from Liminal’s signatory. A policy to whitelist destination addresses was also in place to enhance security. These whitelisted addresses were earmarked and facilitated on the interface by Liminal; consequently, the WazirX team had the ability to initiate transactions to the said whitelisted addresses.
- Nature of the cyber attack: The cyber attack stemmed from a discrepancy between the data displayed on Liminal’s interface and the transaction’s actual contents. During the cyber attack, there was a mismatch between the information displayed on Liminal’s interface and what was actually signed. We suspect the payload was replaced to transfer wallet control to an attacker.
- Security Measures and Response: We had robust security features, including the Gnosis Safe multisig smart contract platform and Liminal’s whitelisting policy. Despite us taking all necessary steps to protect the customer assets, the cyber attackers appear to have possibly breached such security features, and the theft occurred.
This is a force majeure event beyond our control, but we are leaving no stone unturned to locate and recover the funds. We have already blocked a few deposits and reached out to concerned wallets for recovery. We are in touch with the best resources to help us in this endeavor. While these are our findings from our preliminary investigation, we will keep you posted with further updates. Together with your support, we shall overcome this challenge and emerge stronger and more resilient than ever.
Thank you for standing with us.
Affected WazirX Wallet Address: 0x27fD43BABfbe83a81d14665b1a6fB8030A60C9b4
Disclaimer: Cryptocurrency is not a legal tender and is currently unregulated. Kindly ensure that you undertake sufficient risk assessment when trading cryptocurrencies as they are often subject to high price volatility. The information provided in this section doesn't represent any investment advice or WazirX's official position. WazirX reserves the right in its sole discretion to amend or change this blog post at any time and for any reasons without prior notice.
