Solana-Based DeFi Mango (MNGO) Loses $100M In Hack, Token Tumbles 42%

Mango, a Decentralised Finance (DeFi) platform has been exploited by hackers for over $100 million, marking the second such unauthorized break-in this week. 

What Happened: The DeFi platform tweeted it is “currently investigating an incident where a hacker was able to drain funds from Mango via an ‘oracle price’ manipulation”. 

Mango said that it is “taking steps to have third parties freeze funds in flight.” 

We are currently investigating an incident where a hacker was able to drain funds from Mango via an oracle price manipulation.

We are taking steps to have third parties freeze funds in flight. 1/

— Mango (@mangomarkets) October 11, 2022

An "oracle price manipulation" is the most common exploit in the DeFi space, where an attacker exploits an oracle smart contract, which leads to system failure and theft.

Mango is a trading digital asset platform on the Solana blockchain that lets users trade with up to five times leverage.

According to the blockchain auditing website Ottersec, the attacker first manipulated the price of their collateral and then took massive loans from the Mango treasury. 

@mangomarkets was just drained for over $100M. https://t.co/SI4hccCIQx

:thread: pic.twitter.com/IAKyXgN8gM

— OtterSec (@osec_io) October 11, 2022

The attacker wiped assets including USD Coin USDC/USD, Marinade Staked Solana MSOL/USD, Solana SOL/USD, Bitcoin BTC/USD, Tether USDT/USD, Serum SRM/USD, and Mango MNGO/USD.

Price Action: Mango's MNGO token plunged over 42% in 24 hours amid fears that the platform may have been exploited, according to price data from CoinMarketCap.