Ethereum based Blockchain network, the Polygon protocol has revealed how it had secretly patched a system vulnerability that could have seen it lose all its MAFIC tokens for good.
The one constant in the crypto Blockchain tech is system vulnerability and inherent bugs. All systems leveraging Blockchain networks are indeed vulnerable as it is one fact that is acceptable by all in the industry.
The Ethereum scaling solutions provider had now revealed in an announcement how it inadvertently evaded certain destruction when it randomly discovered a critical bug in its network. The team said not to worry as it had fixed the bug and revamped the network framework in a system upgrade. To speedily patch its bugs, the network invited whitehat hackers for the repair process and paid them generously for their services.
Polygon’s Stealthy Background Fix
The team in the network latest reveal through a blog post detailed the discovery and recovery process of the systems fix.
According to the revelation, the network’s attention was called to the bug by two whitehat hackers who called in to collect the bounty reward through the network’s bug bounty platform, immunefi. The hackers report detailed the network’s vulnerability that was leveraged on its innovative PoS genesis contract earlier on December 3.
This vulnerability, if exploited, could enable hackers to steal away virtually all the MATIC tokens it has in circulation. A total of 9.2 billion MATIC tokens equivalent to almost $24 billion could have been lost, whereas the network’s total supply of MATIC stands at 10 billion tokens.
Shortly after the hackers’ bounty call came in, the network’s core developmental team worked in concert with the reporting whitehat hackers to completely fix through a subtle system update that saw over 80% of the network upgraded. The patchwork continued for over 24 hours non-stop.
Despite the network’s speedy actions, an attacker could still exploit the vulnerability to cart away over 801,000 MATIC tokens. The network protocol will shoulder the cost according to the statements released.
Polygon generously rewarded its messiahs- the two white hats with a bounty reward of $3.46 million.
The patchwork for the bug was fixed stealthily without affecting the network’s operations and the community, which is in line with the ‘silent patches’ policy.
A Disturbing Trend
The year 2021 has fielded significant comprehensive growth for the crypto sector and Blockchain industry. The increased revenue generated, continual relevance, and growth potential have naturally attracted bad actors to the industry’s space.
The industry has suffered significant financial damage due to exploits by nefarious entities, with some organizations enduring up to three attacks in this year alone.
According to statistics obtained from on-chain analytics firms, over $4 billion worth of crypto has been stolen across different platforms in the crypto Industry in the outgoing year. This amounts to almost three times the funds lost in the industry in 2020, with DeFi protocols losing at least $1.4 billion in crypto assets.