Magic Eden is investigating a series of unusual NFT transfers that saw thousands of assets change hands for zero ETH. While the activity initially sparked fears of a major hack, the truth turned out to be a coordinated white-hat rescue that saved over $5.7 million in digital assets.
On September 25, a user known as Trader Cirrus detected the anomaly. One wallet was pulling thousands of NFTs from hundreds of different accounts, with each transfer recorded as a sale on Magic Eden at a price of zero. Cirrus immediately advised users to revoke their NFT approvals as a precaution.
Researcher 0xQuit later clarified the situation. The transfers were not an attack but a rescue operation. A white-hat actor moved 3,832 NFTs from vulnerable wallets into a secure wallet before a malicious party could exploit them. The combined value of these NFTs exceeded $5.7 million.
The root cause of the vulnerability was traced to Limit Break’s Payment Processor V2, which had been used on Magic Eden’s former EVM marketplace. Although Magic Eden shut down that payment system in October 2024 and closed the EVM marketplace earlier this year, many users had never revoked the old permissions, leaving their assets exposed.
Magic Eden has confirmed that current listings on its platform are safe. However, anyone who used the marketplace between February and October 2024 is urged to check their wallet and revoke any old approvals on Ethereum, Polygon, and Base.
This incident serves as a reminder that permissions can persist long after a service is discontinued, and it is essential for users to proactively manage their approvals to protect their assets.
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