Aggregate USDT flow and presale drain

Incident Overview & TL;DR

On BSC block 44348367, an unprivileged EOA 0x5af00b07a55f55775e4d99249dc7d81f5bc14c22 deployed a helper contract 0x6deF9e4a6bb9C3bfE0648A11D3FfF14447079e78, used it to take a large USDT flash loan from a DODO pool, and repeatedly called a USDT-based presale function Unresolved_85d07203(uint256,address) (referred to here as PresaleWithUSDT) on presale contract 0x5fbbb391d54f4fb1d1cf18310c93d400bc80042e.
In each loop, the helper transferred tens of USDT into the presale while the presale immediately paid back nearly an order of magnitude more USDT, resulting in a single-block net drain of approximately 10,044.49 USDT from the presale to the attacker.

The core root cause is a mispriced USDT payout path in the presale’s PresaleWithUSDT logic, where Chainlink BNB/USD prices, a presale salePrice, and commission settings are combined such that callers can deterministically receive more USDT than they supply.
No privilege checks or effective caps prevent an arbitrary contract from looping this favorable trade inside a flash-loan transaction.

From a protocol perspective, this is an ACT opportunity: a publicly exposed, mispriced presale purchase function that any contract can repeatedly invoke using flash-loaned USDT to extract reserves from the presale with no directional market risk.

Key Background

• Presale contract and modes

  • The victim contract 0x5fbbb3… on BSC (chainid 56) is a presale contract that supports:
    • A BNB-based path Presale(address) that accepts native BNB.
    • A USDT-based path exposed as Unresolved_85d07203(uint256,address) in the ABI, which is treated as PresaleWithUSDT.
  • The presale stores a salePrice, minimum and maximum buy limits, and commission percentages, and it integrates with a main token contract (via store_c) for delivering presale tokens.

• Oracle and pricing configuration

  • The presale relies on a Chainlink-style BNB/USD oracle:
    • Proxy at 0x0567f2…
    • Implementation at 0xa6e8f2…
  • For USDT-related quantities, functions such as minBuyUSDT(), maxBuyUSDT(), and Unresolved_85d07203:
    • Call latestAnswer() on the BNB/USD oracle.
    • Multiply the returned 8-decimal price by 0x02540be400 (10^10) to lift it to 18-decimal precision for arithmetic with salePrice and other 18-decimal values.

• BNB-based presale path (for context)

  • The Presale() function:
    • Computes the purchased amount as roughly (msg.value * salePrice) / 1e18.
    • Applies commissions derived from an internal commission configuration (unresolved_3a2a034c).
    • Transfers presale tokens from a main contract to the purchaser, enforcing minBuy and maxBuy bounds on the BNB sent.
  • This path appears to respect straightforward min/max checks on msg.value, and is not directly involved in the exploit.

• USDT-based min/max and purchase path

  • The presale tracks a USDT-denominated buying window with minBuyUSDT() and maxBuyUSDT(), both of which:
    • Read the Chainlink BNB/USD latestAnswer().
    • Multiply the oracle output by 0x02540be400 (10^10) and propagate that value into downstream arithmetic.
  • The Unresolved_85d07203(uint256,address) (PresaleWithUSDT) entrypoint:
    • Begins by reading the same BNB/USD oracle price and applying the same scaling factor.
    • Enforces a Pausable paused check, which is off during the exploit.
    • Then performs further arithmetic involving the caller-supplied usdtAmount and the presale configuration to compute how much USDT to accept and return.

• Flash-loan liquidity source

  • The adversary sources USDT from a DODO pool 0x6098A5638d8D7e9Ed2f952d35B2b67c34EC6B476 via a flashLoan call.
  • In the exploit transaction, this provides 825,555.5 USDT of temporary liquidity, sufficient to execute many iterations of the mispriced presale purchase without the attacker pre-funding USDT.

Vulnerability & Root Cause Analysis

High-level vulnerability

The PresaleWithUSDT entrypoint on 0x5fbbb3… allows a caller to provide a USDT amount and receive more USDT back from the presale than it supplied.
The overpayment is deterministic, arising from how Chainlink BNB/USD prices are combined with the presale’s salePrice and commission configuration.
Because the function is permissionless and callable by contracts, an attacker can loop this favorable trade inside a flash loan, draining USDT from the presale’s reserves.

Misuse of Chainlink BNB/USD price and scaling

Decompiled presale code shows that both Unresolved_85d07203 and the associated USDT limit functions call latestAnswer() on a Chainlink BNB/USD oracle and then multiply the returned value by 0x02540be400 (10^10), aligning the 8-decimal oracle to 18 decimals for further arithmetic with presale parameters.

/// @custom:selector    0x85d07203
/// @custom:signature   Unresolved_85d07203(uint256 arg0, address arg1) public
function Unresolved_85d07203(uint256 arg0, address arg1) public {
    require(arg0 == arg0);
    require(arg1 == (address(arg1)));
    require(!(bytes1(isPaused / 0x0100...)), "Pausable: paused");
    var_a = 0x50d25bcd00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000;
    (bool success, bytes memory ret0) = address(store_f / 0x01).latestAnswer(); // Chainlink BNB/USD
    uint256 var_c = var_c + (uint248(ret0.length + 0x1f));
    require(!((var_c + ret0.length) - var_c) < 0x20);
    require(var_f == (var_f));
    require((!var_f) | (0x02540be400 == ((var_f * 0x02540be400) / (var_f))));
    ...
}

Caption: Decompiled Unresolved_85d07203 (PresaleWithUSDT) showing the Chainlink latestAnswer() call and the 0x02540be400 scaling, taken from the collected contract source for 0x5fbbb3… (verified decompilation).

In the exploit transaction, call traces show latestAnswer() consistently returning 61840939882.
That value, after scaling by 0x02540be400 and combined with salePrice and commission parameters, results in a payout formula where each presale iteration sends the caller significantly more USDT than it receives.

Evidence of mispriced USDT flows per call

The seed transaction trace for the exploit (tx 0xbd330f…) clearly demonstrates the per-call imbalance between USDT sent to and paid out from the presale:

Traces:
  ... DPPFlashLoanCall(...)
    ├─ BEP20USDT::transfer(0x5fbBb391d54f4FB1d1CF18310c93d400BC80042E, 110000000000000 [1.1e14])
    ├─ 0x5fbBb391d54f4FB1d1CF18310c93d400BC80042E::85d07203(..., 0x6deF9e4a6bb9C3bfE0648A11D3FfF14447079e78)
    │   ├─ EACAggregatorProxy::latestAnswer()  → 61840939882
    │   ├─ BEP20USDT::transferFrom(0x6deF9e4a6bb9C3bfE0648A11D3FfF14447079e78,
    │   │                          0x5fbBb391d54f4FB1d1CF18310c93d400BC80042E,
    │   │                          76500000000000000000 [7.65e19])
    │   ├─ BEP20USDT::transfer(0x5fbBb391d54f4FB1d1CF18310c93d400BC80042E,
    │   │                      0x6deF9e4a6bb9C3bfE0648A11D3FfF14447079e78,
    │   │                      989635670427665056608 [9.896e20])
    │   ...

Caption: Seed transaction trace (cast run -vvvv style) for exploit tx 0xbd330f…, showing each PresaleWithUSDT call pulling 76.5 USDT from the helper and returning approximately 989.635670427665056608 USDT back, while reading a Chainlink BNB/USD price of 61840939882.

This trace evidences:

• A flash loan of 825555500000000000000 (825,555.5 USDT) from the DODO pool to the helper.
• Multiple calls into 0x5fbbb3…::85d07203, each:
  • transferFrom of 76.5 USDT-equivalent from the helper to the presale.
  • transfer of about 989.635670427665056608 USDT from the presale to the helper.
• Chainlink latestAnswer() returning 61840939882 before each mispriced payout.

Aggregate USDT flow and presale drain

The state-diff analysis of the exploit transaction aggregates all ERC-20 USDT transfers and shows the cumulative effect on the key actors:

[
  { "token": "0x55d398326f99059ff775485246999027b3197955",
    "from": "0x6098a5638d8d7e9ed2f952d35b2b67c34ec6b476",
    "to":   "0x6def9e4a6bb9c3bfe0648a11d3fff14447079e78",
    "value": "825555500000000000000"
  },
  { "token": "0x55d398326f99059ff775485246999027b3197955",
    "from": "0x6def9e4a6bb9c3bfe0648a11d3fff14447079e78",
    "to":   "0x5fbbb391d54f4fb1d1cf18310c93d400bc80042e",
    "value": "76500000000000000000"
  },
  { "token": "0x55d398326f99059ff775485246999027b3197955",
    "from": "0x5fbbb391d54f4fb1d1cf18310c93d400bc80042e",
    "to":   "0x6def9e4a6bb9c3bfe0648a11d3fff14447079e78",
    "value": "989635670427665056608"
  },
  ...
]

Caption: Extract from the ERC-20 transfer diff for tx 0xbd330f…, highlighting the DODO → helper flash loan, helper → presale USDT inputs, and presale → helper USDT outputs, from the collected balance-diff artifact for the seed transaction.

Summing over all USDT transfers in this transaction (including the flash loan repayment) yields:

• Presale contract 0x5fbbb3…: net −10,044.490614704315622688 USDT.
• Attacker EOA 0x5af0…: net +10,044.490614704315622688 USDT.
• Helper contract 0x6deF… + DODO pool 0x6098a5…: net approximately 0 USDT (borrowed funds are repaid).

These numbers match the exploit_predicate profit calculation and confirm that the mispricing is realized entirely as a drain from the presale’s USDT reserves to the attacker, not from the flash-loan provider.

Vulnerable components

The key vulnerable components identified in the analysis are:

• Presale contract 0x5fbbb391d54f4fb1d1cf18310c93d400bc80042e (BSC, chainid 56)

  • Specifically the Unresolved_85d07203(uint256,address) function (PresaleWithUSDT), which accepts a USDT amount and address, and directs the USDT-based purchase path.

• minBuyUSDT() and maxBuyUSDT() helper view functions on the same contract

  • These functions share the same Chainlink BNB/USD price reading and scaling pattern as PresaleWithUSDT, and thus participate in the mispriced USDT-denominated bounds.

• Interaction with Chainlink BNB/USD oracle (proxy 0x0567f2…, implementation 0xa6e8f2…)

  • The oracle itself behaves as expected, but its output is misused in the presale arithmetic, creating an exploitable payout ratio.

Exploit conditions

For the exploit to succeed as observed, the following conditions must hold (all are evidenced in the collected traces and state diffs):

• Presale unpaused:

  • The Pausable paused check in Unresolved_85d07203 must pass. Traces show the function executes without reverting, so the contract is not paused during the exploit.

• Presale funded with USDT:

  • The presale must hold sufficient USDT to pay out the inflated returns. The exploit transaction does not mint USDT; all net gain comes from existing presale reserves.

• Oracle returns a price that overpays given configuration:

  • Chainlink BNB/USD latestAnswer() returns 61840939882 in the exploit transaction. Combined with the configured salePrice and commission parameters, the presale arithmetic produces a payout where each USDT input yields significantly more USDT output.

• Attacker can source large temporary USDT and loop calls:

  • The DODO flash loan provides 825,555.5 USDT within a single transaction, allowing multiple PresaleWithUSDT iterations without pre-funding.

• No effective buy caps or reentrancy-style guards:

  • There are no strict per-transaction or per-address bounds that prevent repeatedly invoking PresaleWithUSDT in a single transaction. The traces show many such calls executed back-to-back via the helper contract.

Security principles violated

• Conservation of value in presale accounting

  • The presale sends more USDT to buyers than it receives, violating the intended invariant that presale reserves should not be a net source of USDT.

• Correct use of price oracles

  • A BNB/USD price feed is used with misaligned scaling and internal configuration, such that the resulting USDT payouts are systematically mispriced in favor of the caller.

• Defense in depth via limits and caps

  • The contract lacks effective per-tx and per-user limits to guard against looping a mispriced payout inside one transaction.

• Least privilege and exposure minimization

  • A highly sensitive pricing path is exposed through a public function callable by any contract, enabling a fully permissionless ACT opportunity.

Adversary Flow Analysis

Strategy summary

The adversary follows a standard flash-loan MEV drain pattern:

1. Deploy a helper contract that orchestrates the flash loan and presale interactions.
2. Take a large USDT flash loan from DODO.
3. Loop the mispriced PresaleWithUSDT function, repeatedly extracting USDT from the presale.
4. Repay the flash loan.
5. Forward the net USDT profit to the attacker EOA.
6. Optionally lock or self-destruct the helper contract.

All of this occurs in block 44348367, using only publicly callable functions and standard gas, with no special permissions.

Lifecycle stage 1: Adversary contract deployment

• Transaction: 0xe2ad1a84ef3dad3bd1d0ba234d30b99a7961384a4a03284507ab5e8ee626c9e7 (BSC, block 44348367).
• Action: EOA 0x5af0… deploys helper contract 0x6deF…, which:
  • Encodes references to USDT token 0x55d3…, DODO USDT pool 0x6098a5…, and presale 0x5fbbb3….
  • Implements flashLoan callback logic that invokes PresaleWithUSDT multiple times and then repays the flash loan.

The transaction-trace log shows the helper’s constructor wiring in these addresses and storing the flash-loan parameters:

Traces:
  [486588] 0x6deF9e4a6bb9C3bfE0648A11D3FfF14447079e78::transfer(0x5fbBb3..., ...)
    ├─ BEP20USDT::approve(0x5fbBb3..., 11579208923731619542357... [~2^256-1])
    ├─ 0x6098A5638d8D7e9Ed2f952d35B2b67c34EC6B476::flashLoan(..., 825555500000000000000, 0x6deF9e4..., 0x3078)
    ...

Caption: Deployment-related trace showing the helper contract configuring USDT approvals and referencing the DODO pool and presale, from the collected trace.cast.log for the deployment transaction.

The helper’s transaction history around the exploit block corroborates the three key lifecycle transactions:

[
  {
    "hash": "0xe2ad1a84ef3dad3bd1d0ba234d30b99a7961384a4a03284507ab5e8ee626c9e7",
    "blockNumber": "44348367",
    "from": "0x5af00b07a55f55775e4d99249dc7d81f5bc14c22",
    "to": "",
    "value": "0"
  },
  {
    "hash": "0xbd330fd17d0f825042474843a223547132a49abb0746a7e762a0b15cf4bd28f6",
    "blockNumber": "44348367",
    "from": "0x5af00b07a55f55775e4d99249dc7d81f5bc14c22",
    "to": "0x6def9e4a6bb9c3bfe0648a11d3fff14447079e78",
    "value": "0",
    "input": "0x1a6952300000000000000000000000005fbbb3..."
  },
  {
    "hash": "0x1b351d5b197300672d33e79f8cfa7780248900fffa558d0c537195677ae12755",
    "blockNumber": "44348367",
    "from": "0x5af00b07a55f55775e4d99249dc7d81f5bc14c22",
    "to": "0x6def9e4a6bb9c3bfe0648a11d3fff14447079e78",
    "value": "0",
    "input": "0xffffffff000000000000000000000000ca11bde0..."
  }
]

Caption: Helper contract 0x6deF… transaction list around block 44348367, showing deployment, the main exploit call into PresaleWithUSDT, and the subsequent cleanup transaction (from the collected helper-address txlist artifact).

Lifecycle stage 2: Flash-loan setup and presale exploitation

• Transaction: 0xbd330fd17d0f825042474843a223547132a49abb0746a7e762a0b15cf4bd28f6 (BSC, block 44348367).
• Action:
  • The attacker calls the helper, which:
    1. Requests a USDT flash loan of 825,555.5 USDT from DODO.
    2. Inside the flash-loan callback, repeatedly calls 0x5fbbb3…::PresaleWithUSDT with a fixed USDT amount per iteration.
    3. After all iterations, repays the flash loan plus fees.
    4. Sends the remaining USDT profit to the attacker EOA 0x5af0….

The detailed call trace (see the earlier snippet) shows:

• The DODO pool transferring 825555500000000000000 USDT to the helper.
• Each presale iteration:
  • transferFrom of 76500000000000000000 (76.5 USDT) from the helper to the presale.
  • A presale contract call to 85d07203 that pulls the Chainlink BNB/USD price.
  • A transfer of 989635670427665056608 USDT from the presale back to the helper.

The balance-diff artifact confirms that when all iterations and the flash-loan repayment are aggregated, the presale loses 10,044.49 USDT, which ends up at the attacker EOA.

Lifecycle stage 3: Post-exploit cleanup

• Transaction: 0x1b351d5b197300672d33e79f8cfa7780248900fffa558d0c537195677ae12755 (BSC, block 44348367).
• Action:
  • EOA 0x5af0… sends a follow-up transaction to the helper with a 0xffffffff function selector and an argument 0xca11bde0…, invoking a function labeled LOCK8605463013() in the trace.

The trace for this transaction is minimal:

Traces:
  [22191] 0x6deF9e4a6bb9C3bfE0648A11D3FfF14447079e78::LOCK8605463013()
    ├─ storage changes:
    │   @ 0xdeafbeefdeafbeef...: 0 → 0x000000000000000000000000ca11bde0...
    └─ ← [Stop]
Transaction successfully executed.
Gas used: 43623

Caption: Cleanup transaction trace for tx 0x1b351…, showing a LOCK…-style function writing a sentinel value at a 0xdeafbeef… storage slot, from the collected trace.cast.log for the cleanup transaction.

No further USDT transfers or presale interactions from 0x6deF… appear in the subsequent blocks in the collected txlist, consistent with the helper being locked or deactivated after the exploit.

Impact & Losses

Quantified loss

Based on the ERC-20 transfer diffs for the seed transaction 0xbd330f…:

• Token impacted: USDT (0x55d398326f99059ff775485246999027b3197955 on BSC).
• Total net loss from presale:
  • 10044490614704315622688 units, i.e., 10,044.490614704315622688 USDT (assuming 18-decimal representation aligned with the artifact).
• Total net gain for attacker EOA 0x5af0…:
  • Matching +10,044.490614704315622688 USDT.
• Flash-loan provider and helper:
  • DODO pool 0x6098a5… and helper 0x6deF… end with net ~0 USDT (borrowed principal plus fees repaid).

Qualitative impact

• The presale contract’s USDT reserves are directly depleted, reducing backing for existing and future presale participants.
• Because the exploit is a purely local arithmetic mispricing (not a one-off mistake in configuration), any entity able to obtain similar flash-loan liquidity could repeat the exploit until presale reserves are exhausted or the contract is paused/updated.
• The incident undermines trust in both:
  • The presale’s internal accounting and pricing logic.
  • The protocol’s handling of oracle-based pricing and commission parameters.

References

Key supporting artifacts used in this analysis (all from the provided root-cause dataset):

• [1] Seed transaction metadata and balance diffs

  • Seed transaction 0xbd330f… metadata and ERC-20 balance-diff analysis, used to quantify the net USDT movement between the presale, attacker, helper, and DODO pool.

• [2] Seed transaction trace and call tracer

  • trace.cast-style transaction trace and debug_traceTransaction call-tracer output for tx 0xbd330f…, used to reconstruct the flash-loan sequence, repeated PresaleWithUSDT calls, and precise USDT flows per iteration.

• [3] Heimdall decompiled presale contract and ABI

  • Decompiled Solidity and ABI for presale contract 0x5fbbb391d54f4fb1d1cf18310c93d400bc80042e, used to identify Unresolved_85d07203, minBuyUSDT, maxBuyUSDT, and the Chainlink latestAnswer() usage and scaling.

• [4] Historical PresaleWithUSDT USDT deltas sample

  • Historical USDT delta samples for PresaleWithUSDT, used to confirm that the observed mispricing is consistent with how the function behaves across transactions, not unique to the exploit.

• [5] Executor (helper) contract txlist around exploit block

  • Historical transaction list for helper contract 0x6deF9e4a6bb9C3bfE0648A11D3FfF14447079e78 around block 44348367, used to corroborate the deployment, exploitation, and cleanup lifecycle and to verify the absence of post-exploit presale interactions.

All conclusions in this report are directly supported by these artifacts plus the final root-cause JSON analysis; no external on-chain queries beyond the provided dataset were used.