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An attacker who triggered community-wide panic by hijacking Tornado Cash’s governance is now proposing to reverse the hack. While not everyone trusts the hacker, they appear to have few alternatives.
On May 21, the approval of a malicious proposal granted the attacker complete control over Tornado Cash’s governance. With full authority over the decentralized crypto mixer, the attacker could have inflicted significant losses by withdrawing all locked votes, draining tokens from the governance contract, and disabling the router.
As the situation unfolded, community member Tornadosaurus-Hex, also known as Mr. Tornadosaurus Hex, took proactive steps to mitigate potential damage. He published a proposal urging all members to withdraw funds locked in governance, as illustrated below.
A Tornado Cash community member’s proposal for gaining control from the attacker. Source: Tornado Cash forums
However, Mr. Tornadosaurus Hex (Hex) was uncertain about the effectiveness of this new proposal given the attacker’s firm grip on the mixer’s governance. Just a few hours into the hack, the attacker surprised the community by reaching out with a new proposal, hinting at an intention to return governance control.
The Tornado Cash attacker’s proposal. Source: Tornado Cash forums
As shown above, Hex communicated the attacker’s plan to the community, stating:
“The attacker posted a new proposal to restore the state of Governance. I think that there is a good chance he’s going to execute it.”
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Hex further noted that while the community has no choice but to comply with the attacker’s chosen method of returning governance control, his due diligence regarding the verification of storage layouts confirms the validity of the move.
Mr. Tornadosaurus Hex confirmed the slot matching. Source: Tornado Cash forums
While many community members expressed optimism about the attacker’s apparent change of heart, others speculate it was a strategic move to pump the TORN token’s price before cashing out.
Related: Allbridge offers bounty to exploiter who stole $573K in flash loan attack
On a positive note, the crypto ecosystem has seen a sharp decline in overall hacks during the first quarter of 2023.
Graph showing hacks and exploits from Q1 2022 – Q1 2023. Source: TRM Labs
However, history suggests that crypto users should remain vigilant, as 2022 witnessed a spike in crypto hacks shortly after a period of slower activity.
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