Dusk to EVM Bridge 2026 signing-wallet compromise
An unauthorized actor gained access to a Dusk signing wallet used by the bridge, stole DUSK directly on Dusk, and moved part of the stolen amount through the bridge to BNB Smart Chain. Dusk states this was a bridge-wallet compromise, not a Dusk consensus failure or protocol exploit.
Incident facts
- Incident title
- Dusk to EVM Bridge 2026 signing-wallet compromise
- Bridge
- Dusk to EVM Bridge
- Incident date
- 2026-01-16
- Incident type
- Exploit
- Major incident
- Yes
- Affected chains
- Unknown, BNB Chain
- Affected assets
- Unknown
- Attack category
- Validator Key Compromise
- Reported loss
- The reviewed first-party post-mortem enumerates stolen DUSK amounts but does not establish a canonical USD loss total.
- Amount confidence
- Unknown
- Loss amount basis
- Reported By Project
- Recovery
- Unknown
- Reimbursement
- Unknown
- Restart
- Unknown
- Current outcome
- Active After Incident
- Postmortem
- Available
- Resolution
- Unresolved
- Last reviewed
- 2026-09-03
- Last verified
- 2026-09-03
Amount and valuation
The reviewed first-party post-mortem enumerates stolen DUSK amounts but does not establish a canonical USD loss total.
BIR does not invent a USD valuation from the token quantities in the post-mortem.
Why this remains unresolved
- The reviewed post-mortem does not establish a final attacker-fund recovery or reimbursement outcome.
- The redesigned bridge is described as stable since release, but the post-mortem does not provide a dated reopening boundary.
Timeline events
Dusk bridge signing wallet compromised2026-01-16
An unauthorized actor gained access to the Dusk bridge signing wallet and stole DUSK, with part of the stolen amount moved through the bridge to BNB Smart Chain.
First-party post-mortem explicitly excludes a Dusk consensus failure or protocol exploit.
Dusk bridge shut down during containment2026-01-16
Dusk shut the bridge down at 23:12 UTC after an internal compromise report, causing a later 8.91 million DUSK bridge attempt to fail.
Evidence records
- Bridge Incident Post-MortemDusk · Tier 1 · High reliability · primary · 2026-03-10Claim scope: Incident Case
First-party root-cause and on-chain sequence for the January 16 signing-wallet compromise.
- Bridge Incident Post-MortemDusk · Tier 1 · High reliability · primary · 2026-03-10Claim scope: Shutdown
Duplicate event-scoped first-party evidence for the 23:12 UTC bridge shutdown.
Source tiers describe evidence authority, not certainty for every claim. Tier 1 is the strongest source class; Tier 2 and Tier 3 provide progressively more secondary or supporting context. Source notes define what each record actually supports.
Known unknowns
- Exact mechanism by which the signing wallet credential became accessible was not established in the reviewed post-mortem.
- Canonical USD loss remains unquantified.
Help maintain incident aftermath records
Support recovery, reimbursement, restart, migration, shutdown, evidence, and correction checks.
Report a correction
Report missing evidence, incorrect dates, outcome changes, recovery details, reimbursement status, or broken links. GitHub Issues are preferred for structured review; the Google Form is available if you do not use GitHub.