Flash Loan Attack

Definition ∞ A flash loan attack is a type of exploit that leverages the uncollateralized, instantaneous nature of flash loans in decentralized finance. Attackers borrow a large sum of cryptocurrency without providing collateral, execute a series of transactions to manipulate market prices or exploit protocol vulnerabilities, and repay the loan within the same transaction block, pocketing the difference. These attacks often result in significant financial losses for affected protocols.
Context ∞ The prevalence of flash loan attacks remains a significant concern within the decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem. Current discussions often focus on identifying specific vulnerabilities in smart contract logic, such as reentrancy flaws or price oracle manipulation, that facilitate these exploits. Efforts to enhance protocol security and develop more sophisticated detection mechanisms are continuously underway to mitigate these risks.

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→Liquid Staking Token

→Stablecoin Protocol

→Ethereum Mainnet

DeFi Protocol Prisma Finance Drained via Malicious Flash Loan Input Validation Flaw

Inadequate input validation on the flash loan callback allowed an attacker to spoof migration data, directly compromising approved user collateral.

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→Insecure Authorization

→Block Range

→Asset Protection

DeFi Protocol Drained via Oracle Manipulation and Flash Loan Attack

Insecure authorization combined with oracle price manipulation created a critical arbitrage window for a $50M flash loan exploit.

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→Flash Loan Attack

→Automated Market Maker

→Protocol Vulnerability

Balancer V2 Pools Drained by Multi-Chain Precision Rounding Exploit

A critical precision loss vulnerability in the Balancer V2 `batchSwap` function allowed attackers to systematically drain $128M across six chains.

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→Decentralized Finance Exploit

→Asset Misvaluation

→External Dependency Failure

Lending Protocol Drained by Temporary Oracle Failure Mispricing Wrapped Staked Ether

A critical misvaluation of wrapped staked Ether collateral allowed a rapid, multi-transaction liquidation and asset drain, exposing the systemic risk of external data dependency.

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→Capital

→Oracle Manipulation

→DeFi Lending

Lending Protocol Drained $50 Million Exploiting Oracle Price Manipulation

Manipulated price oracles and flawed input validation enabled a leveraged flash loan attack, resulting in $50 million in irrecoverable capital loss.

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→DeFi Security

→Economic Exploit

→Smart Contract Exploit

DeFi Lending Protocol Drained by Oracle Price Manipulation and Logic Flaw

A critical failure in oracle input validation and access control logic allowed a multi-stage exploit to drain $50M via collateral manipulation.

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→Lending Protocol Exploit

→Protocol Solvency Check

→Over-Borrowing Vulnerability

Moonwell Lending Protocol Drained via External Oracle Price Misvaluation

A transient oracle failure on Base mispriced collateral, enabling a flash loan-style over-borrowing attack and systemic protocol drain.

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→Collateral Ratio Failure

→Asset Loss

→Oracle Manipulation

Moonwell Lending Protocol Drained by External Oracle Price Manipulation

Transient oracle pricing error on Base allowed negligible collateral to be valued at millions, exposing systemic risk in external data feeds.

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→Defi Infrastructure Risk

→Collateral Overvaluation

→Asset Mispricing

Lending Protocol Drained by External Oracle Price Feed Manipulation Flaw

A critical misconfiguration in the external price oracle allowed for collateral overvaluation, creating an immediate, systemic risk of protocol insolvency.

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→Smart Contract Vulnerability

→Bad Debt

→Base

Moonwell Lending Protocol Drained by Chainlink Oracle Price Manipulation on Base

A transient oracle malfunction on the Base L2 allowed collateral mispricing, exposing a critical systemic risk in the protocol's asset valuation logic.