Access Control Vulnerabilities Cause $1.7B in Losses Across CeFi, DeFi, and Gaming

Access control vulnerabilities have emerged as the leading cause of crypto hack losses in 2024, accounting for a whopping 75% of total damages across decentralized finance (DeFi), centralized finance (CeFi), and gaming/metaverse sectors, excluding phishing attacks.

According to Hacken, this marks a significant increase from 50% in 2023, with losses tied to unauthorized access and private key theft surging to $1.7 billion, up from less than $1 billion the previous year. In contrast, exploits targeting smart contract vulnerabilities contributed just 14% of total losses.

Access Control Exploits Surge in 2024

Hacken’s report revealed that access control attacks were particularly pervasive across all categories of Web3 in 2024, with CeFi, DeFi, and gaming/metaverse projects being severely impacted. In CeFi, major incidents at DMM Exchange and WazirX…