Uniswap v4 Hooks Lure Traders with Fake Swap Quotes
Liquidity aggregator 0x has sounded the alarm on malicious Uniswap v4 hooks, which are designed to lure DeFi traders with fake swap quotes. The hooks quote one price but settle at another, resulting in users receiving significantly less than advertised.
According to 0x's analysis of 84,163 hooks across six chains, a staggering 54.2% were classified as malicious, while 26.4% were deemed likely malicious. This represents a significant threat to traders who rely on aggregators like 0x to find the best prices.
One particularly egregious example involved an ETH/NVDAc hook trading on Base, which showed 6,516 fills and collected $143,037 in total fees as of September 11. The maximum shortfall observed was a whopping 50% less than quoted.
Uniswap v4 hooks are optional external contracts that can execute before or after a swap, allowing for features like dynamic fees and custom accounting. However, this flexibility also enables malicious actors to exploit vulnerabilities in the system.