Base Vault Loses $6M to a Whitelist That Changed Its Mind Twice in a Minute
The permission list did its job twice in one minute. The vault is out about $6 million.
A vault on Base lost around 1,783 wstETH on October 4, 2026, about $6 million[1]. The attacker got a new contract onto the vault’s whitelist[2]. Through it, the attacker borrowed deposits and redeemed them at Aave V3 for ether tokens[2].
At 08:52 UTC the vault owner’s Safe removed the attacker’s contract[3]. At 08:53 UTC the same contract was let back in[3]. Both transactions carried real signatures from existing signers[4].
The payout venue was Aave V3: the attacker borrowed deposits there and swapped them into wstETH[5]. Neither Aave’s core contracts nor Base itself were compromised[6]. As of October 5, 2026, no plan to return the funds had been announced[7].
What to do: no action needed for Aave users — the report says the core contracts and Base were not compromised[6].
Who gains, who loses
Receipts
On October 4, 2026, a Base vault was drained of approximately 1,783 wstETH, reported at about $6 million.
“A vault on Base was drained of around 1,783 wstETH on October 4, 2026, about $6 million.”
The Base vault attacker added a newly deployed contract to the vault’s whitelist, borrowed interest-bearing deposits through it, and redeemed them at Aave V3 for ether derivatives.
“An investment vault on the Ethereum layer Base was drained of around 1,783 wstETH on Sunday, October 4, 2026, worth about $6 million at the October 5 price. What mattered was not a hole in a protocol but an entry on a permission list: the…”
The Base vault’s Safe removed the attacker-controlled contract from the whitelist at 08:52 UTC on October 4 and admitted it again at 08:53 UTC.
“At 08:52 UTC the Safe wallet of the vault owner removed a contract belonging to the attacker from the whitelist. One minute later, at 08:53 UTC, the same contract was admitted again.”
The two Base-vault whitelist transactions carried valid signatures from existing signers.
“Both transactions carried valid signatures from existing signers.”
The Base-vault attack used Aave V3 as a payout venue: the attacker borrowed interest-bearing deposits and swapped them into wstETH.
“The attacker used Aave V3 as a payout desk: they borrowed interest-bearing deposits and swapped them there into wstETH, which any admitted contract is allowed to do.”
Neither Aave’s core contracts nor the Base network were compromised in the vault incident.
“Neither Aave's core contracts nor the Base network itself were compromised.”
The Base vault incident had no announced recovery measure as of October 5, 2026, according to the report.
“Since the operator has not commented and no recovery measure has been announced, that figure remains an outside estimate.”
Cabal Desk is reporting, written with AI under human oversight. Every bracketed number opens its receipt: the source, the quoted span, the hash. Headlines and characterisations are commentary; the sourced facts are the receipts. Not investment advice. Corrections log. Editorial & legal.