Hacker attack on Rarible and OpenSea: NFT collectors at a loss

Rarible and OpenSea, two of the most popular Non-Fungible Token marketplaces, suffered a hacker attack that caused NFT collectors to lose out on their valuable Bored Apes and Cool Cats.

The hacker allegedly earned a total of 332 ETH on the resale of the NFTs purchased at a lower price. 

Hacker attack on Rarible and OpenSea, what happened

The main problem of the two NFT marketplaces of OpenSea and Rarible seems to have been a particular API that would have reported a bug, discovered by the hacker with the account ‘jpegdegenlove’ who would have earned 332 ETH. 

Security blockchain company Peck Shield Inc. tweeted as follows:

👀 @opensea https://t.co/XGRB1DgKuX

— PeckShield Inc. (@peckshield) January 24, 2022

“It appears that OpenSea has a front-end issue and the exploiter gained about 332 Ether”.

Basically, Rarible is using an API from OpenSea to list some NFTs. However, the bug would have let NFTs deleted long ago on OpenSea be active and still available on Rarible and the hacker intervened to buy valuable NFTs at lower prices and then resell them. 

The stolen NFTs are 3 Bored Ape, 2 Mutant Ape, a Cool Cat and a Genesis CyberKongz, which when resold generated the equivalent of almost 1 million dollars to the hacker. 

Reactions from celebrities in the NFT world

The hacker attack on the Rarible and OpenSea marketplaces saw well-known figures in the NFT industry urging users to delete their old listings on Rarible to ensure their assets are safe. 

Primarily, Rarible’s marketplace, which, in a series of tweets, described the problem and how to fix it.

To tackle this, we temporarily disabled all OpenSea orders on https://t.co/xjSw1IYwNl to protect our users.

We also developed a tool where everyone can see and cancel their potentially risky sale orders.

👉 https://t.co/W8vBvbfiAb

— Rarible (@rarible) January 5, 2022

“To tackle this, we temporarily disabled all OpenSea orders on http://Rarible.com to protect our users. We also developed a tool where everyone can see and cancel their potentially risky sale orders”.

Hustler‘s Twitter account also helped spread the word:

https://twitter.com/0xHustler/status/1485526989255577601

“BREAKING: Everyone head to http://orders.rarible.com and make sure all of your old listings are cancelled. There is currently an exploit on OpenSea letting someone buy your NFTs for old listing prices. This is happening right now!!”

In addition, Hustler, a member of the Bored Ape community, has offered to set up funds in ETH to help recoup the losses of his unfortunate “peers”.

https://twitter.com/0xHustler/status/1485544731241185283

“I am offering to donate ETH to help those that lost their BoredApeYC in the Open Sea exploit so they can buy new apes to make up for their loss tonight. It’s the least I can do to help my fellow apes. If people are interested in creating a fund with me, my DMs are open”.

Hermès’ lawsuit against MetaBirkins NFT artist.

While in this case, a hacker was able to exploit a bug in the OpenSea and Rarible API, buying NFTs that had been deleted by their owners in the sale ad, the situation of French fashion house Hermès and its lawsuit against the artist creator of MetaBirkins NFT is a bit different. 

Recently, Hermès reportedly sued Mason Rothschild, the creator of the 100 MetaBirkins NFT collection that includes images depicting furry renderings of the traditional Birkin. 

The complaint accuses the artist of being a “digital speculator” who wants to get rich in the metaverse by stealing Hermès’ famous BIRKIN brand.

In conclusion, the artist says that he does not feel intimidated by the French fashion house at all and that he will have no problem going to court.