Audit-Free Base Chain Smart Contract Attack Exposes 55 WETH
- Base chain exploit leads to loss of 55 WETH.
- User-level permission exploit has critical impact.
- Highlights DeFi risks with unaudited contracts.
An unaudited smart contract on the Base Chain was exploited, resulting in users losing 55 WETH, as reported by CertiK.
This incident highlights ongoing risks in DeFi platforms from unverified contracts, prompting scrutiny on user interactions rather than protocol flaws.
Introduction
An unaudited smart contract on the Base chain faced an exploit, which led to the loss of 55 WETH from users. The incident highlights how interactions with unverified contracts can result in financial risks for decentralized finance (DeFi) participants.
CertiK, a leading blockchain security firm, reported the attack, emphasizing the importance of contract verification. The attack underscores the transition from typical smart contract vulnerabilities to user-level permission exploits, as noted by CertiK Co-Founder Ronghui Gu.
Immediate impacts of the exploit include the loss of approximately $115,000–$120,000 in Ethereum ETH -2.92% , directly affecting users who had approved permissions. The incident didn’t result in systemic issues across high-profile, audited protocols, maintaining market stability despite the breach.
Financial implications involve stolen WETH, impacting the Base ecosystem’s reputation but not its systemic integrity. Social engineering and permission exploits have been more prevalent, showing a shift in attack methodologies as observed industry-wide.
The crypto sector sees more attacks focusing on user permissions. Historical trends point to an increase in phishing and social exploits over traditional code vulnerabilities, with 2025 witnessing over $2.1 billion in crypto thefts largely due to such exploits.
Industry experts suggest rigorous smart contract auditing and enhanced user education as crucial prevention strategies. CertiK’s recommendations include real-time security monitoring and limiting user permissions to increase safety in the evolving DeFi landscape.
As emphasized by CertiK Co-Founder Ronghui Gu, “Smart contracts or blockchain code itself was the weakest point, but now the attackers feel like the weakest points may come from human behavior rather than the code.”
