Celer Network shuts down bridge over potential DNS hijacking

Interoperability protocol Celer Network (CELR) has asked its users to revoke the approval for several contracts after shutting down its cBridge over a suspected DNS hijacking. 

According to the project’s initial analysis, there was some suspicious DNS activity at around 7 PM (UTC) on Aug. 17. However, the platform is still trying to investigate and know more about the issue at the time of writing.

Meanwhile, as the platform continues to pinpoint the problem, the team has shut down the cBridge as an initial way to avoid any more mishaps and protect their users. In addition to shutting down the bridge, the platform also warned its users and advised them to revoke token approvals for smart contracts in Ethereum (ETH), Polygon (MATIC), Avalanche (AVAX), Binance Smart Chain, Arbitrum, Astar and Aurora.

If you recently used cBridge, please make sure to check and revoke any token approval for the following contracts:
Ethereum: 0x2A2aA50450811Ae589847D670cB913dF763318E8
BSC: 0x5895da888Cbf3656D8f51E5Df9FD26E8E131e7CF
(cont’ in next thread) https://t.co/HJbCxq4RqN

— CelerNetwork (@CelerNetwork) August 17, 2022

Users can go to the token approval page for each network if they want to revoke the approvals as a precautionary measure while the platform continues to examine the issue and come up with a solution.

In January, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin expressed his disapproval of cross-chain bridges because of their fundamental security limitations. According to Buterin, while the future will be multi-chain, it may not be cross-chain.

Related: Cross-chains in the crosshairs: Hacks call for better defense mechanisms

Meanwhile, bridge exploits have become more prevalent in the crypto space, resulting in $2 billion in losses in 2022 alone. According to a report by blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis, cross-chain bridge exploits have accumulated around 69% of all the crypto that was lost to theft in the year, with Q1 leading because of the Ronin Bridge hack in March.

Despite the hacks, there are still good samaritans in the crypto space. Earlier in August, crypto exchange Binance recovered a majority of funds that were drained from the recent Curve Finance exploit. Apart from this, white hat hackers have also returned around $32 million worth of digital assets to the victims of the Nomad bridge hack.