MetaMask Security Incident Rocks Ethereum Staking Operations

MetaMask's Ethereum staking operations have been affected by a security incident that has resulted in the diversion of an estimated 0.36 ETH from block-production payments.

The issue, which was discovered on October 1st, caused MetaMask to begin exiting affected Ethereum validators as a precautionary measure.

Lido, a service that pools users' ETH for staking, warned that affected validators could miss rewards during an exit and re-entry process lasting up to about 45 days.

MetaMask emphasized that no immediate threat was found to users' wallets, but approximately 17,000 validators holding roughly 523,000 ETH were withdrawn from service.

A researcher estimated that the payments diverted to another wallet came from producing blocks, and 18 of 19 MetaMask-operated validators had earned those payments before sending them to an unexpected address.