Independent Audit Rates Gate Cross-Chain Bridge 7/10 Risk Over Critical Vulnerabilities

An independent DeFi security researcher assessed Gate, a multi-chain bridge with over $7.54 billion in total value locked across Ethereum and multiple Layer-2 networks, on September 29, 2026. The audit assigned an overall risk rating of 7 out of 10, citing two critical and several high-severity vulnerabilities across smart-contract logic, validator mechanisms, and cross-chain messaging. Among the most serious findings were an unrestricted upgrade pathway that could allow a compromised owner key to redirect all bridged assets, and a re-entrancy flaw in the withdrawal function exploitable via ERC-777 token hooks. Auditors also flagged improper Merkle proof verification and missing source-chain checks on Layer-2 message replay, both of which could enable fraudulent asset claims or unauthorized minting. The report concludes that while Gate's core architecture is sound, the identified issues pose significant systemic risk and require prioritized remediation.