Aave Faces Potential Losses of Up to $230 Million Following Kelp DAO Bridge Exploit

A recent exploit of the Kelp DAO and LayerZero bridge has put lending protocol Aave at risk of losing up to $230 million, contingent upon the resolution of the situation. According to a report from Aave Labs and LlamaRisk, the incident revolves around rsETH, a liquid restaking token issued by KelpDAO, which relies on a bridge mechanism to transfer tokens between blockchains. An attacker manipulated this setup by creating a fake transfer message, resulting in the creation of new tokens without backing, and releasing 116,500 rsETH from the Ethereum-side bridge. Instead of selling the assets, the attacker used 89,567 rsETH as collateral to borrow approximately $190 million in ETH and related assets across Ethereum and Arbitrum, leaving Aave vulnerable to impaired collateral. Aave Labs quickly responded by freezing rsETH markets, setting loan-to-value ratios to zero, and halting new borrowing against the asset. The outcome now largely depends on how Kelp handles the shortfall, with estimated losses ranging from $124 million if spread across all rsETH holders to $230 million if isolated to Layer 2 networks. The exploit was made possible by weaknesses in Kelp's verification process using LayerZero, allowing the attacker to extract value from the system. This incident has raised concerns about the safety of interconnected DeFi infrastructure and has led to a significant withdrawal of around $6 billion in total value locked from Aave. Discussions are underway to address potential losses, with Aave's DAO treasury holding approximately $181 million in assets.