Ethereum-based layer two scaling network Polygon has quietly fixed a vulnerability that put almost $24 billion worth of its native token MATIC at risk.

According to a Dec. 29 blog post from Polygon, the “critical” vulnerability in the network’s Proof-of-Stake (PoS) Genesis contract was first highlighted by two whitehat hackers on Dec. 3 and Dec. 4 via blockchain security and bug bounty hosting platform Immunefi.

All you need to know about the recent Polygon network update.
✅A security partner discovered a vulnerability
✅Fix was immediately introduced
✅Validators upgraded the network
✅No material harm to the protocol/end-users
✅White hats were paid a bounty https://t.co/oyDkvohg33

— Polygon | $MATIC (@0xPolygon) December 29, 2021

The vulnerability put more than 9.27 billion MATIC at risk that is valued at around $23.6 billion at the time of writing, with the figure representing the vast majority of the token’s total supply of 10 billion.

Polygon noted that the bug was resolved at Block #22156660 via an “Emergency Bor Upgrade” to the Mainnet on Dec. 5 at around 7:27 am UTC. The network noted that a “malicious hacker” managed to steal 801,601 MATIC ($2.04 million) before the bug was resolved. The blog post said:

“The Polygon core team engaged with the group and Immunefi’s expert team and immediately introduced a fix. The validator and full node communities were notified, and they rallied behind the core devs to upgrade 80% of the network within 24 hours without stoppage.”

Polygon stated that the issue was fixed behind closed doors as it follows…