LUNC News: Terra Classic Not Impacted By Terra Hack, Here’s Why

Terra, which is a Phoenix-1 blockchain, suffered an exploit as they used an internal forked IBC-go 7.3 version that remained without an update since last year. In contrast, Terra Classic which also maintained inter-blockchain communication (IBC) dependency remained unaffected due to a major upgrade by core developer Genuine Labs months ago.

Terra Classic Avoided Security Exploit

Terra Classic, the original Terra blockchain by Terraform Labs, remained unaffected by a recent hack on Terra (Phoenix chain). An unidentified attacker exploited a vulnerability in a third-party module known as IBC hooks, used for cross-chain contract interactions and token transfers.

Terra Classic core developer Genuine Labs took to the X platform to reveal to the wider community that LUNC is not impacted by the hack.

“About the latest exploitation happened on Terra Money (phoenix-1), we are happy to announce that Terra Classic is not affected since we patched it back in May with our V3 upgrade,” said Genuine Labs.

LUNC also depends on inter-blockchain communication (IBC) protocols to interact and transfer tokens between other blockchains.

Ethan Buchman, co-founder of Cosmos, expressed disappointment with the latest Terra hack as the community already faces Terraform Labs bankruptcy. He said Terra was initially patched for vulnerability but seems to have accidentally reverted in their June upgrade.

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Community Response and Security Measures

The Terra community has been vocal about the recent hack. A report noted the sadness over the ASTRO hack on Terra, highlighting that Terra was initially patched but accidentally reverted the fix in an upgrade.

Meanwhile, this lapse allowed the exploit to occur. The use of a forked version of IBC made it difficult to stay up-to-date with security patches. This incident calls for an ecosystem-wide effort to minimize forks and ensure timely updates.

A report detailed that Terra (Phoenix chain) was exploited because they used an outdated fork of ibc-go 7.3.x, last updated in September 2023. This version missed the critical exploit patch uncovered in April 2024.

Following the hack, Terra upgraded to ibc-go >7.4.1 to address the vulnerability. A user pointed out that LUNC also maintains an internal IBC-go dependency but avoided the security exploit due to a significant upgrade led by Genuine Labs in May 2024, which included a patch to v7.4.0.

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