Aug 1, 2022

Nomad Bridge Hack

• Bridge

Nomad was a cross-chain bridge protocol that allowed users to transfer assets between blockchains like Ethereum, Moonbeam, Avalanche, and others. A routine smart contract upgrade in June 2022 introduced a critical bug in the Replica contract: it incorrectly marked a zero hash (0x00) as a trusted root. This flaw let anyone process arbitrary messages without proper verification, essentially turning the bridge into an open vault. $190m was drained in a chaotic 'free-for-all' attack where hundreds of users exploited the vulnerability.