Smart Contract Exploits Drain Millions as NORMIE and BOGE Tokens Crash 99% in Coordinated Attacks

Two memecoin projects on the Base network suffered devastating smart contract exploits on May 26 and 27, 2024, wiping out millions of dollars in market capitalization and exposing critical vulnerabilities in low-cap token smart contracts. The attacks on NORMIE and Based Doge (BOGE) followed an identical exploit pattern, raising urgent questions about the security standards governing memecoin launches.

The Exploit Mechanics

Both attacks exploited a critical flaw in the get_premarket_user function within the tokens’ smart contracts. This function was designed to grant special minting privileges to premarket participants and the deployer wallet. However, the implementation contained a logical vulnerability: any user who matched the deployer wallet’s token balance could be recognized as a “privileged user” with full minting authority.

The attacker systematically traded tokens until their wallet balance precisely matched that of the deployer wallet. Once parity was achieved, the smart contract’s authorization check granted the attacker the same elevated privileges as the contract owner. With minting rights secured, the attacker generated over 170,000 NORMIE tokens out of thin air and immediately dumped them on the open market, triggering a catastrophic price collapse.

In the case of BOGE, the attacker called an unverified function on a smart contract located at an address ending in 1a42, initiating over 120 individual transactions on the Base network. Each transaction siphoned hundreds of thousands of BOGE tokens, accumulating approximately 91.4 million tokens before the attacker converted them to roughly 4.47 ETH, worth approximately $16,926 at the time of the attack.

Affected Systems

The NORMIE token exploit on May 26 resulted in losses exceeding $800,000, with the token’s market capitalization plunging by $41.7 million within three hours. The token’s value collapsed by 99%, leaving holders with near-worthless positions. On May 27, the BOGE token suffered the same fate, with 91.4 million tokens drained and the price plummeting from $0.002983 to $0.000072 — a loss of more than $2.8 million in market capitalization.

With Bitcoin trading at $69,394 and Ethereum at $3,892 at the time, the broader crypto market was focused on the landmark Ethereum ETF approvals. The memecoin exploits unfolded largely under the radar, amplified by reduced scrutiny during a period of major market-wide news coverage.

The Mitigation Strategy

Following the BOGE exploit, the development team announced plans to take a snapshot of current token balances and relaunch the project with compensation for affected holders. The NORMIE attacker reportedly offered to return 90% of the stolen tokens, requesting 10% as a bug bounty with no legal consequences. Both responses highlight the ad hoc nature of incident response in the memecoin space, where formal security procedures are often absent.

Web3 insurance provider Neptune Mutual published an analysis identifying the root cause as the faulty access control mechanism in the get_premarket_user function. The exploit underscores the importance of comprehensive smart contract audits, particularly for functions that grant elevated privileges based on on-chain state conditions.

Lessons Learned

These exploits demonstrate several critical security principles that every token project must internalize. First, access control functions should never rely solely on balance comparisons, as these conditions can be artificially satisfied by any sufficiently motivated attacker. Second, smart contract code should be fully verified on block explorers to enable community auditing. The BOGE attacker exploited an unverified contract, preventing the community from identifying the vulnerability before it was too late.

Third, the rapid replication of the exploit across two separate projects within 24 hours illustrates how attackers share and reuse successful exploit patterns. Once a vulnerability is discovered in one contract, all contracts with similar code structures become immediate targets. Projects deploying forked or shared codebases face heightened risk during the window between initial exploitation and patch deployment.

User Action Required

Investors holding memecoin positions should verify that the underlying smart contracts have undergone professional audits from recognized security firms. Unverified contracts and projects without published audit reports represent elevated risk. Users should also monitor blockchain activity through tools like Etherscan or BaseScan, watching for unusual transaction patterns such as rapid large-scale token movements from unverified contract functions. In the event of an exploit, immediate token withdrawal to a secure wallet and cessation of trading on affected pools can help minimize losses.

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial or investment advice. Always conduct your own research before engaging with any cryptocurrency project.