Bridge Incident Registry
Incident case

Wormhole 2022 wrapped ETH mint exploit

In February 2022, Wormhole was exploited through a vulnerability that allowed unauthorized wrapped ETH minting on Solana. Public reporting described a loss of roughly $320 million, and the bridge deficit was later backfilled.

reviewedcurrent

Incident facts

Incident title
Wormhole 2022 wrapped ETH mint exploit
Bridge
Wormhole
Incident date
2022-02-02
Incident type
Exploit
Major incident
Yes
Affected chains
Solana, Ethereum
Affected assets
WETH
Attack category
Message Verification Failure
Reported loss
$320 million
Recovery
Not Applicable
Reimbursement
Completed
Restart
Reopened
Current outcome
Active After Incident
Resolution
Final outcome known
Last reviewed
2026-06-15
Last verified
2026-06-15

Timeline events

  • Wormhole exploit disclosed2022-02-02

    The Wormhole exploit became public after unauthorized wrapped ETH minting on Solana was identified.

    Exploit DisclosedHigh

  • Bridge deficit backfilled2022-02-03

    Public reporting described the Wormhole bridge deficit as backfilled after the exploit, enabling the record to track the incident as reimbursed/backfilled rather than unresolved.

    Deficit BackfilledMedium

  • Wormhole included in bridge-hack research context2025-01-06

    Later cross-chain bridge hack surveys use Wormhole as a major reference case for bridge exploit classification and loss-scale comparison.

    Research ContextMedium

Evidence records

Known unknowns