The Shiba Inu development team has announced the restoration of Shibarium following a major bridge exploit.
After a nonstop, ten-day effort, the team successfully recovered assets, implemented stricter security controls, and introduced new preventive measures.
The Shiba Inu blockchain recently faced one of its most severe challenges when attackers targeted the Shibarium Bridge.
Moreover, the attacker staked 4.6 million BONE tokens in an attempt to influence validator thresholds. Taken together, this combination of checkpoint manipulation and stake amplification posed a critical risk that demanded immediate intervention.
In response, the Shiba Inu core team and external partners worked tirelessly for over ten days. Dhairya noted that developers operated late nights, weekends, and even through holidays to eliminate risks and restore security.
To manage the crisis effectively, the team divided the response into overlapping workstreams. Cybersecurity firm Hexens.io was brought in as an independent reviewer to mirror the team’s testing and sign off on each fix.
Furthermore, multiple daily standups, emergency syncs, and continuous log reviews ensured that no detail went unchecked.
Importantly, responsibilities were separated across distinct owners. Infrastructure, validator operations, test networks, and monitoring were all handled independently to minimize points of failure. This way, the structure allowed parallel progress while maintaining rigorous oversight.
Following containment, the team introduced several measures to harden Shibarium against future attacks.
First, over 100 critical contracts across Shibarium, ShibaSwap, and the Shiba Inu Metaverse were migrated to secured multi-signature wallets. This step ensured that no single entity could control mission-critical assets.
Second, all validator signing keys were rotated. By replacing keys tied to the compromised state, developers introduced stronger custody rules and isolated the network from prior exposure.
Finally, a blacklist feature was added to staking operations. This mechanism enables the system to immediately block malicious addresses from staking, unstaking, withdrawing rewards, or re-bonding funds. Before deployment, each of these enhancements was rehearsed extensively on Devnet and Puppynet before being applied to Mainnet.
One of the most notable outcomes of the recovery effort was the rescue of 4.6 million BONE tokens linked to the attacker. Because the tokens were staked through a contract rather than an external wallet, the team designed a targeted recovery method.
Through the StakeManager, developers executed new procedures that corrected legacy unbonding data and restored ledger integrity. As a result, the malicious delegation was removed and the tokens secured.
At the same time, the withdrawal delay was extended from one checkpoint to approximately 30 checkpoints, around 24 hours. This change ensures the team has sufficient time to detect unusual activity before withdrawals are finalized, providing an important new layer of defense.
The fake checkpoint injection that initially triggered Heimdall’s halt required careful correction. Developers repaired the disrupted pointer and validated the fix through a structured, three-stage process. Specifically, the process began in Devnet, moved through Puppynet, and finally deployed to Mainnet. Consequently, the repair ensured checkpointing could resume safely.
With this process complete, Shibarium’s checkpoint system has returned to normal operations without further issues.
Initially, the Shiba Inu developers considered negotiating with the attacker and even extended a public offer for discussion. However, after receiving no response and observing that stolen assets were already being moved and sold, the team chose not to pursue this path.
As Dhairya explained, deploying a bounty contract would have created additional operational complexity and new risks. Instead, all energy was directed toward defense, asset recovery, and long-term network security.
Looking ahead, the Shiba Inu team has laid out a cautious roadmap for restoring bridge functionality. A blacklist mechanism will soon be added to the Plasma Bridge, allowing the system to proactively block malicious addresses from initiating transactions. Once this safeguard is in place, full Plasma Bridge functionality will gradually return.
Moreover, the team is developing a plan to make sure affected users are fairly compensated. This process will include phased withdrawals, strict transaction limits, and close coordination with partners.
Importantly, developers stressed that timelines will only be communicated when it is safe to do so, avoiding over-promises and protecting sensitive operations.
Beyond immediate recovery, Shibarium is building long-term resilience through infrastructure improvements. The team has partnered with dRPC.org to consolidate RPC services under a unified endpoint: rpc.shibarium.shib.io. This change, in turn, is expected to enhance reliability and streamline developer access.
Furthermore, the project is carrying out a comprehensive documentation update. By simplifying node setup and validator instructions, the team aims to encourage broader participation while raising the security baseline across the ecosystem.
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