One of the internet’s most infamous image boards, 4chan, is hacked. After a major security breaches, the site has become dark. The attacker is said to have exploited an outdated system, leaked the site’s source code, restored the board over time, and exposed private moderator data and user IPS. This hack triggered a heated conversation across X and Reddit, particularly about user privacy and how such a massive failure occurs.
How did that happen?
According to a screenshot shared on IMGUR (NSFW warning), rival imageboard Soyjak.Party reportedly found an opening through the old tech stack on 4Chan. The site was still running on FreeBSD 10.1, but the version was updated nearly 10 years ago. The outdated PHP scripts and unstable MySQL functions were also useless. One of the vulnerable files, Yotsuba.php, was key to user posting and moderating. Once the attackers gained shell access, they were able to ruin the internal management tools.
X, @_yushe users posted a screenshot showing suspected access at the admin level, claiming that the stolen code covers most of the 4chan’s backend. There is no solid evidence that the full admin panel has been compromised yet, but it is quite worrying that it has been confirmed.
4chan / j / leak megathread
This is a secret committee where admins, moderators and developers make on-gain and make suggestions for the board.
I’ll start strongly with an admin who suggests implementing AI to help ease websites. pic.twitter.com/e0ubd3jwne
– Yushe (@_yushe) April 15, 2025
That’s not all. The hacker also got his long / QA / (question and answer) board back. At Soyjak.Party, someone claimed responsibility and shared a screenshot of a private moderator chat from the inside/J/board of 4chan. These screenshots revealed the tools moderators use to record user IPS, hosts, and general locations.
4chan admits he suffered from a massive hack attack
The violation reportedly occurred last week and appears to have been driven by personal motivations. In a blog post entitled “Recent Intrusions,” the founder of 4chan, “Moot,” a name that appears to have been chosen to avoid attracting too much attention, explained what happened.
“Last week we recognized a vulnerability in the software that allows intruders to access management features and information from any of the databases. The intruders later said it was to publish the posting habits of certain users who dislike their motives.
After careful review, we believe that the intrusion was limited to several tables in the Image Board Moderation Panel, Report Queues and backend database. There is a detailed log of what has been accessed, depending on how the intruder extracted the information from the database. The logs primarily indicate that the moderator account name and credentials were targeted. ”
Three users with a 4Chan Pass account have accessed their credentials. According to the post, they were notified immediately after the incident and offered a refund along with a lifetime pass.
“As a reminder, all payment information is processed safely by stripes. We will not see or store it, so payment information was not compromised.”
The site has since been able to fix the vulnerability to block unauthorized access and data leaks.
What was leaked?
The extent of the violation is still connected. Early posts on X and Reddit suggest that a messy codebase has been dumped and exposed a chunk of infrastructure that can open doors to more attacks. Some claim that the leak will include moderator credentials on a private IRC channel used by 4Chan volunteer moderators (aka “administrator”), internal staff emails, and even conversations.
Some moderator email addresses have .edu and .gov endings, but there are unverified rumors that it has not been confirmed.
Thankfully, 4chan’s payments go through Stripe, so financial data seems safe. However, IP address leakage and moderator identity are different things. Cybersecurity researcher Naringa Masijauskite told Cybernake that such leaks could lead to docking, harassment and targeted attacks, especially considering the site’s history and user base.
This is nothing new for 4chan
4chan has previously dealt with hacks. In 2014, someone grabbed the moderator’s credentials using SQL injection. In 2012, Hacktivist Group Ugnazi hijacked the site’s DNS and redirected the traffic to a Twitter page. All of these incidents show the same problem. The site’s infrastructure is old and vulnerable.
The platform’s anonymous setup and lack of account registration always deals with moderation. Boards like /b/ were basically free and attracted everything from memes to harassment campaigns. That loose policy has also become a magnet for trolling coordinated with extremist content. This creates a far more violation than a technical issue.
Reactions and rumors
Over 1,200 people have flagged down detector stops. X’s response was a mixture of shock and sarcasm. “The End of the Time,” one user posted. Another pointed to the irony of possible retaliation from a group that is prohibited for trolling conflicts on the board.
R/4Chan’s Reddit users have roughly speculated. Some joked about the site’s ancient setup (“badly formatted – bringing”), while others expressed real concern about exposed data and what could come next.
The Soyjak.Party side framed the hack as a wake-up call, claiming 4chan ignored obvious maintenance issues. However, due to the lack of official words from the 4Chan management team, many stories are still connected from user reports, rival forums and cybersecurity blogs.
What’s next?
This site is still out of service. There were no official statements from Nishimura, who owns the site or his moderation team. Based on previous violations, they will likely patch the holes and move on, but leaked code could remain a threat. Priit Rebane and other security experts have warned that attackers could reverse engineer their backends to find more ways to do so.
For users, leaks are a reminder of the trade-offs associated with anonymity. Most posts don’t require an account, but the fact that they can track or expose IPS and moderator data makes them closer to risk than anyone thinks. Macijauskaitė said the fallout could even lead to coordinated harassment efforts. This is a serious concern given the history of 4chan.
Intersection site
This violation could go down as one of the most serious online for over 20 years of 4chan. Sites that once shaped internet culture through memes and movements now deal with very realistic threats to their core structure and user trust. It’s no one’s guess whether this incident will just push 4chan and overhaul its aging system or patch it and carry it.
For now, the servers are quiet, the boards are scattered and the internet is watching.
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