Flash Loan Vector

Definition ∞ A flash loan vector refers to a specific method or pathway by which an attacker leverages a flash loan to execute a malicious exploit within decentralized finance. Flash loans permit borrowing large amounts of capital without collateral, provided the loan is repaid within the same blockchain transaction. Attackers exploit this capability to manipulate asset prices on decentralized exchanges or exploit smart contract vulnerabilities, leading to unauthorized fund extraction. This technique highlights a unique risk in DeFi architecture.
Context ∞ Flash loan vectors are a recurring topic in security analyses of DeFi protocols, underscoring the innovative yet risky nature of uncollateralized borrowing. A key discussion involves developing robust smart contract defenses and improving price oracle resilience to counteract these rapid, high-impact attacks. Ongoing research focuses on protocol design improvements that limit the attack surface exposed to flash loan manipulations.

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→DeFi Accounting Error

→State Transition Bug

→Pool Drain Event

Yearn Finance yETH Pool Drained Exploiting Stale Storage Cache

Unvalidated state transitions in the yETH pool's custom stableswap logic allowed an attacker to mint infinite tokens, resulting in a $9M capital drain.

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→Reentrancy Risk

→Collateral Loss

→Code Logic Error

Legacy DeFi Pool Drained Exploiting Infinite Token Minting Flaw

A critical flaw in a custom stable-swap contract allowed an attacker to mint near-infinite yETH, bypassing core pool solvency checks.

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→Arbitrary Call Execution

→Trusted Context Bypass

→LP Token Drain

Arcadia Finance Drained $3.6m via Rebalancer Contract Input Validation Flaw

Unchecked `swapData` in the Rebalancer contract enabled a malicious router injection, granting unauthorized access to user liquidity provider assets.

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→Single Transaction Attack

→Smart Contract Risk

→On-Chain Forensics

Yearn Finance Legacy Pool Drained Exploiting Infinite Token Minting Logic Flaw

A critical logic flaw in a custom stableswap contract allowed an attacker to mint unbacked yETH, leading to an immediate $9 million liquidity drain.

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→Multi-Chain Protocol

→Batched Swap Attack

→Asset Reimbursement

Balancer V2 Stable Pools Drained Exploiting Precision Rounding Logic

The logic flaw in the Stable Pool's rounding function permitted batched-swap price manipulation, resulting in a nine-figure asset drain.

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→Financial Exploit

→Flash Loan Vector

→Risk Management Failure

Lending Protocol Moonwell Drained via Oracle Mispricing Flaw on Base

External oracle volatility introduced a critical state-manipulation vector, allowing an attacker to leverage mispriced collateral for recursive asset drain.