EVM Wallet Drainer: Technical Analysis 2026

In 2026, EVM-based wallet drainers have become some of the most advanced – and honestly, most damaging attack tools in Web3.

This isn’t your old-school phishing. These modern drainers don’t bother stealing your seed phrase or private key. Instead, they trick you into handing over dangerous permissions right through normal wallet connection steps. No alarms, nothing weird on-chain… until your assets are gone.

Let’s dig in. Here’s a technical breakdown of how these wallet drainers actually work:

• How they exploit protocols like Permit2, EIP-712, and Session Keys
• How they bundle transactions and optimize gas
• The tricks they use to spoof interfaces and mess with your instincts
• A real case: the “BaseApe” campaign
• How they dodge detection

If you’re into blockchain security, red-teaming, or auditing smart contracts, this guide’s for you. It’s not a how-to – think of it as a field manual for defense.

1. How EVM Wallet Drainers Play on User Trust

It all starts with a fake UI. Picture a dApp that looks just like Uniswap, Blur, or some airdrop portal. The site prompts you to “Connect Wallet” – totally normal in DeFi. Once you connect, it asks you to sign a transaction. Usually, it’s dressed up as:

• “Claim your airdrop”
• “Mint an exclusive NFT”
• “Verify wallet for rewards”

Here’s the kicker: there’s no malware. Everything happens right in your browser, using your wallet’s own signing power.

People think connecting a wallet is safe. Most of the time, it is – right up until you sign something malicious. The real weak spot isn’t the tech; it’s people signing stuff without checking what they’re actually approving.

2. How They Exploit the System

2.1. Permit2 and Universal Approvals

Uniswap rolled out Permit2 to make approving multiple contracts easier. Nice idea, but attackers love it. A drainer can craft a payload that gives their own contract unlimited access to your tokens. If you sign it, they can:

• Drain your ERC-20 tokens (think USDT, USDC, DAI)
• Swap them out through DEX aggregators
• Forward the loot to a laundering address

And Permit2 approvals? They don’t show up in Etherscan’s “Token Approvals.” So revoking them with tools like Revoke.cash? Not so simple.

2.2. EIP-712 Typed Data Spoofing

EIP-712 lets you see transaction details in plain English. Sounds safe, but drainers use it to create fake “gasless approval” popups that look exactly like legit ones from OpenSea or Blur.

Example:

{ "domain": { "name": "Blur", "version": "1.0" }, "message": { "spender": "0xAttacker...", "value": "Unlimited" } }

Your wallet flashes: “Blur wants to spend your tokens.” You click approve, not realizing the “Blur” domain is a total fake.

2.3. Session Key Abuse (ERC-5792)

Session keys are supposed to make things smoother with account abstraction – temporary, limited wallet access. Drainers request session keys, but with way too much power. They wait until you’re gone, then drain your assets hours later.

3. Going Deeper: Not Just Tokens Anymore

Modern drainers don’t stop at your token balances. They’ve started targeting all kinds of DeFi positions – liquidity pools, lending collateral, restaked assets – the works.

3.1. DEX & Liquidity Pool Draining

The new breed of drainers taps directly into DEX protocols to liquidate your LP positions on the spot. When you connect, their script scans for:

• Uniswap V2/V3 (any chain)
• PancakeSwap V2/V3 (BSC, Base, Ethereum)
• SushiSwap V2 LPs
• QuickSwap (Polygon)
• Camelot V2 (Arbitrum)
• Trader Joe ERC1155 LPs
• Velodrome and Aerodrome (Optimism, Base)
• Curve.fi LP tokens and gauges
• Convex Finance (cvxCRV, staked positions)
• Stargate Finance (LPs and staked STG)
• Frax Finance V2

Once found, they swap your LP tokens to stablecoins or ETH, then forward everything out – pulling max value and dodging price swings.

3.2. Exploiting Lending & Restaking Protocols

Staked or locked assets aren’t safe anymore. Today’s drainers interact straight with lending and restaking protocols to:

• Pull collateral from AAVE V2/V3 (any chain)
• Liquidate Venus positions (BSC)
• Claim Spark Protocol rewards (Gnosis)
• Drain Radiant Capital vaults
• Grab Prisma Finance assets (mkUSD, eBTC)
• Unwind EigenLayer restaked ETH and eTokens
• Close out MakerDAO vaults
• Harvest ApeStake rewards (APE, NFT staking)

Bottom line: attackers aren’t just emptying wallets – they’re draining entire DeFi portfolios. If it’s on-chain and valuable, it’s in their sights.

3.3. NFT & Marketplace Draining

NFTs are hot targets – attackers go after them aggressively. Drainers already support:

• Seaport 1.1 / 1.4 (OpenSea, Blur, LooksRare)
• Blur Points Pools, even non-transferable reward tokens
• ERC404 hybrid tokens like $DEGEN
• Basic fallback coverage for NFTX, Sudoswap, and X2Y2 (through Seaport compatibility)

So, a single transaction can swipe both fungible and non-fungible assets. Quick, efficient, ruthless.

4. Full EVM Chain Coverage (2026)

This isn’t just about Ethereum mainnet anymore. By early 2026, drainers reach over 40 EVM-compatible chains:

Core Networks:

• Ethereum
• BNB Smart Chain (BSC)
• Polygon (PoS)
• Arbitrum One
• Optimism
• Base
• Avalanche C-Chain (Avax)
• Fantom
• Cronos
• Gnosis
• Celo
• PulseChain
• Blast
• Linea
• Scroll
• Mode
• Manta Pacific
• Fraxtal
• Aurora
• Moonbeam / Moonriver
• Fuse

Extended Support (20+ more):

• Mantle, Metis, Kava EVM, Telos, Boba, WEMIX, PGN, Beam, Heco, Shibarium, OKX Chain, Klaytn, and plenty of others

Universal Capabilities

On every chain, attackers can:

• Pull out native coins (ETH, BNB, MATIC, AVAX, etc.)
• Sweep ERC20 tokens
• Drain ERC721/ERC1155 NFTs
• Liquidate LP positions straight through built-in DEX routers

This cross-chain reach preys on people using new L2s and obscure chains – places packed with liquidity, but where users just don’t know how to spot phishing.

5. Advanced Signing Exploits: Bypassing Modern Defenses

Attackers keep getting smarter. Gone are the days when simple token approvals were enough to catch victims. Now, drainers slip right past people who:

• Regularly use Revoke.cash to pull approvals
• Actually check what they’re signing

How? A few dirty tricks:

• Permit2 Phishing: Fake “gasless approval” pop-ups that look just like Uniswap or Blur. The spender address is buried deep in the EIP-712 payload – easy to miss.
• Session Key Abuse: Sneakily ask for temporary full wallet access through ERC-5792. The drain happens later, long after the victim leaves the site.
• Single-Signature Full Drain: Everything – native coins, ERC-20s, NFTs, LP tokens – bundled into one signature. Dead simple for the attacker, barely any interaction for the victim.

These moves dodge Blockaid, slip past MetaMask phishing alerts, and ignore wallet guardrails. Delayed execution makes them even harder to spot.

6. Real-World Case Study: The “BaseApe” Phishing Campaign (Q1 2026)

In January 2026, attackers ran a slick phishing campaign called “BaseApe” right when memecoins were booming on Base. They spun up fake airdrop sites that looked like official Bored Ape Yuga Labs pages, promising “free $BASEAPE tokens” to anyone who connected their wallet.

Here’s how it played out:

• The landing page was a near-perfect BAYC clone, fresh domain, HTTPS, Cloudflare – looked legit.
• Users got prompted to connect MetaMask or Coinbase Wallet.
• Instead of a normal token approval, the site triggered a Permit2 universal allowance for all ERC-20s on Base.
• The draining logic waited 18 hours – so victims thought they were safe.
• The script then:
  • Drained ETH, USDC, DAI
  • Swapped illiquid memecoins ($TOSHI, $DEGEN) to USDC on Aerodrome
  • Liquidated LP positions in the $DEGEN/USDC pool
  • Routed everything through a privacy pool before consolidating the loot

The aftermath:

• Around 840 wallets emptied in just 72 hours
• Total losses hit about $2.1 million (mostly ETH and USDC)
• Blockaid caught less than 9% of the attacks as they happened
• Main weak point: users signed Permit2 approvals without checking the spender address

FAQs

Q: Can Blockaid spot EVM drainers?
A: Not really. If the drainer uses private exploits or obfuscated calldata – especially with Permit2 or session keys – it usually slips through.

Q: Can users revoke drainer access after signing?
A: Only for standard ERC-20 approvals. Permit2 and session key approvals need special revocation tools, and those aren’t common yet.

Q: Do drainers hit mobile wallets?
A: Absolutely. MetaMask Mobile, Trust Wallet, Coinbase Wallet – if you sign something sketchy, you’re at risk.

Q: Is this analysis based on real data?
A: Yes. Findings are derived from incident reports (Chainalysis, OpenZeppelin), on-chain forensics, and internal threat intelligence.

For a broader overview, see our Technical Overview of Crypto Drainers.

Explore more technical analyses on our blog.