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• 2 min read

Venus Protocol Suffers $3.7M
Loss Following Security Breach in $THE Pool

Venus Protocol, a lending protocol on BNB Chain, has experienced an anomaly in its $THE pool. The attacker utilized a large amount of low-liquidity $THE tokens as collateral to drain approximately $3.7 million in mainstream assets (including BTC, CAKE, and BNB) through price manipulation.

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Venus Protocol Suffers $3.7M Loss Following Security Breach in $THE Pool
  • Incident Date: March 16, 2026
  • Target: Venus Protocol
  • Target Overview: Venus Protocol is a decentralized lending and algorithmic stablecoin protocol on BNB Chain that allows users to borrow mainstream tokens through the over-collateralization of crypto assets.
  • Loss Amount: ~$3,700,000
  • Attack Vector: Logic Vulnerability

Incident Review & Technical Details​

  1. Attack Path:
    • Collateral Injection: The attacker's address (0x1a35...6231) deposited tens of millions of $THE as collateral into Venus Protocol.
    • Large-scale Borrowing: Leveraging the Collateral Factor (CF) of the $THE market, the attacker borrowed high-liquidity assets from the protocol, including 20 BTC, 1.5 million CAKE, and 200 BNB.
    • Continuous Liquidation: Following the borrowing activity and subsequent price volatility, the attacker’s $THE collateral triggered a continuous liquidation mechanism. However, since the high-value mainstream tokens had already been withdrawn, the attacker successfully exited with the profit.
  2. Scope of Impact: Primarily affected the $THE and $CAKE pools. To prevent a contagion effect, the protocol team urgently lowered the Collateral Factors for several markets characterized by low liquidity and high concentration.
  3. Official Assessment: The incident involved abnormal fluctuations in the $THE pool. Due to certain markets having a "single-user collateral concentration exceeding 60%," the state was officially classified as high-risk.
  4. Investigation Progress:
    • Immediately suspended borrowing and withdrawal services for $THE.
    • Reduced the Collateral Factors (CF) for $BCH, $LTC, $UNI, $AAVE, $FIL, $TWT, and $lisUSD to 0.
    • A deep-dive investigation into the $THE pool is ongoing; a comprehensive Post-Mortem Report will be released upon completion.

AUTOSEC.DEV Solution: Building a 360-Degree Defense​

To counter hybrid attacks involving "Web2 Breach + Web3 Monetization," AUTOSEC.DEV provides comprehensive protection from code to personnel:

  1. Team OPSEC (Operations Security) Audit & Hardening: We provide enterprise-grade security training and configuration for core Web3 team members. We assist teams in deploying security hardware and risk detection software to increase the difficulty of social engineering attacks, while auditing password management protocols and device security policies.
  2. End-to-End Incident Response (IR): In an emergency, every second of confusion amplifies the loss. AUTOSEC.DEV provides standardized SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures) and rapid response services tailored to specific business needs to help projects mitigate losses quickly.

Service Content​

Reference​

https://x.com/VenusProtocol/status/2033237615194034643