XRP Bridge Exploited for $200K in Sophisticated Fake Deposit Attack

A sophisticated exploit on August 9 resulted in the theft of approximately 200,000 XRP from a cross-chain bridge connecting the XRP Ledger to the tx blockchain.

The attacker discovered and weaponized a software vulnerability that allowed fabricated deposit entries without actual XRP transfers to be accepted as authentic by the bridge relayers.

This enabled the attacker to initiate standard withdrawal procedures, extracting 199,916.3 XRP from the bridge's reserves via 94 transactions between 19:16 UTC and 20:53 UTC.

The stolen funds were rapidly redistributed, with approximately 169,000 XRP flowing into two intermediary wallets established on June 28, and an additional 34,000 XRP transferred to three separate addresses.