The Idols NFT Self Reflection Rewards Vulnerability: Difference between revisions

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(Created page with "{{Imported Case Study With About|source=https://www.quadrigainitiative.com/casestudy/theidolsnftselfreflectionrewardsvulnerability.php}} {{Unattributed Sources}} thumb|The Idols NFT Logo/HomepageThe Idols are a series of unique NFTs representing guardians of Ethereum, born from an offering that locked staked ETH forever. On January 15, 2025, the Idols NFT contract on Ethereum was exploited, leading to the loss of approximately $340K in stETH. Th...")
 
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{{Unattributed Sources}}
{{Unattributed Sources}}


[[File:Theidolsnft.jpg|thumb|The Idols NFT Logo/Homepage]]The Idols are a series of unique NFTs representing guardians of Ethereum, born from an offering that locked staked ETH forever. On January 15, 2025, the Idols NFT contract on Ethereum was exploited, leading to the loss of approximately $340K in stETH. The vulnerability stemmed from flawed logic in the _beforeTokenTransfer function, which mishandled reward claims when the sender and receiver were the same address. This oversight allowed an attacker to repeatedly claim stETH rewards through self-transfers of NFTs. The Idols NFT team is working on resolving the issue and there is no word yet on any potential remuneration.<ref name="rektnews-17209" /><ref name="theidols-17210" /><ref name="opensea-17211" /><ref name="theidolsnfttwitter-17212" /><ref name="theidolsnfttwitter-17213" /><ref name="solidityscanblog-17214" /><ref name="etherscan-17215" /><ref name="etherscan-17216" /><ref name="etherscan-17217" /><ref name="etherscan-17218" /><ref name="etherscan-17219" /><ref name="etherscan-17220" /><ref name="etherscan-17221" /><ref name="etherscan-17222" /><ref name="etherscan-17223" /><ref name="etherscan-17224" /><ref name="etherscan-17225" /><ref name="etherscan-17226" /><ref name="etherscan-17227" /><ref name="etherscan-17228" /><ref name="tenarmoralerttwitter-17229" /><ref name="tenarmoralerttwitter-17230" /><ref name="tikkalaresearchtwitter-17231" /><ref name="tikkalaresearchtwitter-17232" />
[[File:Theidolsnft.jpg|thumb|The Idols NFT Logo/Homepage]]The Idols are a series of unique NFTs representing guardians of Ethereum, born from an offering that locked staked ETH forever. On January 15, 2025, the Idols NFT contract on Ethereum was exploited, leading to the loss of approximately $340K in stETH. The vulnerability stemmed from flawed logic in the _beforeTokenTransfer function, which mishandled reward claims when the sender and receiver were the same address. This oversight allowed an attacker to repeatedly claim stETH rewards through self-transfers of NFTs. The Idols NFT team is working on resolving the issue and there is no word yet on any potential remuneration.<ref name="rektnews-17209" /><ref name="theidols-17210" /><ref name="opensea-17211" /><ref name="theidolsnfttwitter-17212" /><ref name="theidolsnfttwitter-17213" /><ref name="solidityscanblog-17214" /><ref name="etherscan-17215" /><ref name="etherscan-17216" /><ref name="etherscan-17217" /><ref name="etherscan-17218" /><ref name="etherscan-17219" /><ref name="etherscan-17220" /><ref name="etherscan-17221" /><ref name="etherscan-17222" /><ref name="etherscan-17223" /><ref name="etherscan-17224" /><ref name="etherscan-17225" /><ref name="etherscan-17226" /><ref name="etherscan-17227" /><ref name="etherscan-17228" /><ref name="tenarmoralerttwitter-17229" /><ref name="tenarmoralerttwitter-17230" /><ref name="tikkalaresearchtwitter-17231" /><ref name="tikkalaresearchtwitter-17232" /><ref name="unnamed-18427" />


== About The Idols NFT ==
== About The Idols NFT ==
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<ref name="tikkalaresearchtwitter-17231">[https://twitter.com/TikkalaResearch/status/1879229974877712499 @TikkalaResearch Twitter] (Accessed Jan 16, 2025)</ref>
<ref name="tikkalaresearchtwitter-17231">[https://twitter.com/TikkalaResearch/status/1879229974877712499 @TikkalaResearch Twitter] (Accessed Jan 16, 2025)</ref>


<ref name="tikkalaresearchtwitter-17232">[https://twitter.com/TikkalaResearch/status/1879234084318404798 @TikkalaResearch Twitter] (Accessed Jan 16, 2025)</ref></references>
<ref name="tikkalaresearchtwitter-17232">[https://twitter.com/TikkalaResearch/status/1879234084318404798 @TikkalaResearch Twitter] (Accessed Jan 16, 2025)</ref>
 
<ref name="unnamed-18427">[https://www.web3isgoinggreat.com/?id=idols-nft-exploit The Idols NFT loses $324,000 to exploit] (Accessed Mar 7, 2025)</ref></references>

Latest revision as of 18:37, 7 March 2025

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The Idols NFT Logo/Homepage

The Idols are a series of unique NFTs representing guardians of Ethereum, born from an offering that locked staked ETH forever. On January 15, 2025, the Idols NFT contract on Ethereum was exploited, leading to the loss of approximately $340K in stETH. The vulnerability stemmed from flawed logic in the _beforeTokenTransfer function, which mishandled reward claims when the sender and receiver were the same address. This oversight allowed an attacker to repeatedly claim stETH rewards through self-transfers of NFTs. The Idols NFT team is working on resolving the issue and there is no word yet on any potential remuneration.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25]

About The Idols NFT

"The Idols are the guardians of Ethereum. Born from an Offering that locked away staked ETH forever, the Idols made a solemn vow to protect the blockchain for all time."

The Idols are a series of unique NFTs representing guardians of Ethereum, born from an offering that locked staked ETH forever. The Idols, such as the Ape Idol, Neptune Idol, and Armored Zombie Idol, have sworn to protect the blockchain. They are associated with the $VIRTUE token, an ERC20 token that can be staked to earn a share of the commission from all Idol NFT trades. The system operates in a virtuous cycle: 7.5% of commission from Idol NFT sales is paid to $VIRTUE stakers, and stETH rewards are distributed to NFT owners, further reinforcing the cycle. This ecosystem is 100% community-aligned, with staked ETH powering the Idol Treasury.

The Reality

This sections is included if a case involved deception or information that was unknown at the time. Examples include:

  • When the service was actually started (if different than the "official story").
  • Who actually ran a service and their own personal history.
  • How the service was structured behind the scenes. (For example, there was no "trading bot".)
  • Details of what audits reported and how vulnerabilities were missed during auditing.

What Happened

"On January 15, 2025, The Idols NFT (@TheIdolsNFT) contract on Ethereum suffered an exploit resulting in a loss of approximately $340K in stETH."

Key Event Timeline - The Idols NFT Self Reflection Rewards Vulnerability
Date Event Description
January 14th, 2025 10:09:35 AM MST Earliest Attack Transaction The earliest reported attack transaction on the ethereum blockchain.
January 14th, 2025 11:04:59 AM MST Final Attack Transaction The final attack transaction occurs on the ethereum blockchain, based on the reports by SolidityScan.
January 14th, 2025 11:11:00 AM MST Tikkala Research Posted Tikkala Research publicly warns The Idol NFT team that they "may need to pause [their] IdolMain contract ASAP" as it "is been attacking now". They link to an earlier attack transaction.
January 14th, 2025 11:28:00 AM MST Tikkala Research Information Tikkala Research adds more information to their post, including that the attacker was originally funded through Union Chain and some basic details about the root cause.
January 14th, 2025 12:55:00 PM MST The Idols Team Posts The team behind The Idols NFT project posts a notice that they are aware of the suspicious transactions and advising users not to interact with the smart contracts until further notice.
January 14th, 2025 8:23:00 PM MST TenArmorAlert Tweet Posted TenArmorAlert posts an announcement about the exploit. The vulnerability lies in the transfer() function, which rewards the sender or receiver. When the sender and receiver are the same address, the function deletes the sender's claimedSnapshots and then claims the reward again for the same address. This flaw enabled an attacker to repeatedly claim stETH rewards. The attack was detected using TenArmor's ArgusAlert system, which provides early detection and automated responses to on-chain attacks.
January 14th, 2025 8:55:00 PM MST Reduced Loss Estimate The TenArmorAlert tweet reduces the loss estimate to $330k from the original value of $430k. "So many attacks recently!" they add.
January 15th, 2025 3:55:53 AM MST SolidityScan Medium Post SolidityScan posts an analysis of the exploit including 14 attack transactions. They include detailed information about the vulnerability.

Technical Details

"The root cause of the exploit was a flawed logic in the _beforeTokenTransfer function, which mishandled the claiming of rewards during NFT (ERC721 tokens) transfers when the sender (_from) and receiver (_to) were the same address. This logic oversight allowed the attacker to repeatedly claim stETH rewards by performing self-transfers."

"When _from and _to are the same, _beforeTokenTransfer first calls _claimEthRewards(_from) to claim pending stETH rewards for the sender. This action calculates the sender’s rewards and transfers them based on their current claimedSnapshots value. This uses the getPendingStethReward function, which calculates rewards as:(balanceOf(_user) * (rewardPerGod - claimedSnapshots[_user]))"

"After claiming the rewards, if the sender has no NFTs (ERC721 tokens) left after the transfer (balanceOf(_from) == 1), their claimedSnapshots entry is deleted. This reset removes the record of previously claimed rewards for the sender."

"Since _from and _to are the same, _claimEthRewards(_to) is called next. At this point, claimedSnapshots[_to] has been either deleted or reset in the previous step. The reward calculation is repeated:(balanceOf(_to) * (rewardPerGod - 0)) from getPendingStethReward."

"The subtraction of 0 (due to the deleted or reset claimedSnapshots) inflates the calculated rewards, enabling the same address to claim rewards again."

"Inside _claimEthRewards, after transferring the current rewards, claimedSnapshots[_user] is reset to rewardPerGod. This reset makes it appear as though the user has not claimed rewards yet, allowing further exploitation in subsequent self-transfers. The reset occurs irrespective of whether the transfer involves a new receiver or the same address."

"The attacker exploited this logic by repeatedly initiating self-transfers of NFTs (ERC721 tokens). Each iteration reset claimedSnapshots, enabling them to claim rewards anew in every transaction."

Total Amount Lost

The total amount lost has been estimated at $324,000 USD.

How much was lost and how was it calculated? If there are conflicting reports, which are accurate and where does the discrepancy lie?

Immediate Reactions

"The Idols NFT team has identified suspicious transactions on the Idols Main contract. The team is thoroughly exploring all available options to resolve the situation as quickly as possible and ensure the security of the project." "As a precautionary measure, the team advises users to refrain from interacting with any contracts related to the Idols NFT project until further notice to avoid potential risk."

"Suspicious transactions have been discovered today on the Idols Main contract. Our team is actively investigating the issue and exploring all options to resolve the situation as quickly as possible. DO NOT interact with any contracts related to the project until further notice."

Ultimate Outcome

What was the end result? Was any investigation done? Were any individuals prosecuted? Was there a lawsuit? Was any tracing done?

Total Amount Recovered

There do not appear to have been any funds recovered in this case.

What funds were recovered? What funds were reimbursed for those affected users?

Ongoing Developments

What parts of this case are still remaining to be concluded?

Individual Prevention Policies

No specific policies for individual prevention have yet been identified in this case.

For the full list of how to protect your funds as an individual, check our Prevention Policies for Individuals guide.

Platform Prevention Policies

Policies for platforms to take to prevent this situation have not yet been selected in this case.

For the full list of how to protect your funds as a financial service, check our Prevention Policies for Platforms guide.

Regulatory Prevention Policies

No specific regulatory policies have yet been identified in this case.

For the full list of regulatory policies that can prevent loss, check our Prevention Policies for Regulators guide.

References

  1. ↑ Rekt - The Idols NFT - Rekt (Accessed Jan 16, 2025)
  2. ↑ The Idols NFT (Accessed Jan 16, 2025)
  3. ↑ https://opensea.io/collection/idolsnft (Accessed Jan 16, 2025)
  4. ↑ @theidolsnft Twitter (Accessed Jan 16, 2025)
  5. ↑ @TheIdolsNFT Twitter (Accessed Jan 16, 2025)
  6. ↑ The Idols NFT Hack Analysis. Overview: | by Shashank | Jan, 2025 | SolidityScan (Accessed Jan 16, 2025)
  7. ↑ Ethereum Transaction Hash (Txhash) Details | Etherscan (Accessed Jan 16, 2025)
  8. ↑ Ethereum Transaction Hash (Txhash) Details | Etherscan (Accessed Jan 16, 2025)
  9. ↑ Ethereum Transaction Hash (Txhash) Details | Etherscan (Accessed Jan 16, 2025)
  10. ↑ Ethereum Transaction Hash (Txhash) Details | Etherscan (Accessed Jan 16, 2025)
  11. ↑ Ethereum Transaction Hash (Txhash) Details | Etherscan (Accessed Jan 16, 2025)
  12. ↑ Ethereum Transaction Hash (Txhash) Details | Etherscan (Accessed Jan 16, 2025)
  13. ↑ Ethereum Transaction Hash (Txhash) Details | Etherscan (Accessed Jan 16, 2025)
  14. ↑ Ethereum Transaction Hash (Txhash) Details | Etherscan (Accessed Jan 16, 2025)
  15. ↑ Ethereum Transaction Hash (Txhash) Details | Etherscan (Accessed Jan 16, 2025)
  16. ↑ Ethereum Transaction Hash (Txhash) Details | Etherscan (Accessed Jan 16, 2025)
  17. ↑ Ethereum Transaction Hash (Txhash) Details | Etherscan (Accessed Jan 16, 2025)
  18. ↑ Ethereum Transaction Hash (Txhash) Details | Etherscan (Accessed Jan 16, 2025)
  19. ↑ Ethereum Transaction Hash (Txhash) Details | Etherscan (Accessed Jan 16, 2025)
  20. ↑ Ethereum Transaction Hash (Txhash) Details | Etherscan (Accessed Jan 16, 2025)
  21. ↑ @TenArmorAlert Twitter (Accessed Jan 16, 2025)
  22. ↑ @TenArmorAlert Twitter (Accessed Jan 16, 2025)
  23. ↑ @TikkalaResearch Twitter (Accessed Jan 16, 2025)
  24. ↑ @TikkalaResearch Twitter (Accessed Jan 16, 2025)
  25. ↑ The Idols NFT loses $324,000 to exploit (Accessed Mar 7, 2025)
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