According to analysis by Yu Xian (@evilcos), founder of SlowMist, the core of the $290 million theft incident involving KelpDAO was a targeted poisoning attack against the downstream RPC infrastructure of LayerZero’s DVN (Decentralized Verifier Network). The specific attack steps were as follows: First, the attackers obtained the list of RPC nodes used by LayerZero DVN, then compromised two independent clusters and replaced the op-geth binary files; using selective deception techniques, they returned forged malicious payloads only to the DVN while providing legitimate data to all other IPs; simultaneously, they launched DDoS attacks against uncompromised RPC nodes, forcing the DVN to failover to the poisoned nodes. After successfully validating the forged messages, the malicious binary self-destructed and erased logs. This ultimately caused LayerZero DVN to issue validation for transactions that never occurred.
SlowMist Analysis: KelpDAO Hack Involves Targeted RPC Poisoning and LayerZero DVN Forgery
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Summary
SlowMist founder Yuxian analyzed the KelpDAO hack, demonstrating how attackers used targeted RPC poisoning and LayerZero DVN forgery. By replacing the op-geth binary in two clusters, they fed malicious data to the DVN while remaining hidden from others. A DDoS attack redirected traffic to the poisoned nodes, enabling forged transactions to be signed before logs were erased. Traders monitoring altcoins may observe ripple effects as the Fear & Greed Index responds to such exploits.
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