Certora disclosed a patched critical vulnerability in Solana's $8.45B stake-pool program that allowed reserve hijacking and unauthorized share minting.
Security & Exploits ·
Certora disclosed a critical vulnerability in Solana's stake-pool program, valued at $8.45B, that has since been patched. The flaw allowed attackers to hijack reserves and mint shares without authorization, creating a direct threat to funds held within the program. Certora's formal verification team identified and helped remediate the issue before it could be exploited in production.
The vulnerability centered on access controls and state management within the stake-pool's core logic. By manipulating reserve accounts and share-minting mechanisms, an attacker could have extracted liquidity or inflated their holdings without corresponding deposits, undermining the economic integrity of the protocol. The discovery underscores the ongoing role of security audits and formal verification in protecting large pools of capital deployed on permissionless blockchains.
Certora has not disclosed whether the vulnerability was discovered proactively or reported responsibly by a third party. The patch's deployment timeline and confirmation of full remediation across all affected instances remain undisclosed. No indication has been given of whether any funds were at risk during the window between discovery and patching.