All news with #github tag

🎮 Acronis TRU found hundreds of GitHub repositories posing as "free" game cheats that deliver the Vidar 2.0 infostealer, warning the true number of malicious repos could be in the thousands. Campaigns begin in game-focused Discord and Reddit communities and use PS2EXE-compiled PowerShell loaders to evade basic detections. Loaders add Windows Defender exclusions, fetch secondary payload URLs from Pastebin linking to GitHub-hosted binaries, and deploy a Themida-packed Vidar executable that establishes persistence via scheduled tasks. The payload then harvests credentials, tokens and files and exfiltrates them through C2 infrastructure masked by Telegram bots and Steam dead-drop resolvers.

🪲 The GlassWorm supply‑chain campaign has resurfaced, compromising 433 packages, repositories, and extensions across GitHub, npm, and VSCode/OpenVSX. Researchers from Aikido, Socket, Step Security and the OpenSourceMalware community link the activity to a single actor using the same Solana address, identical payloads, and shared infrastructure. Malicious commits employ invisible Unicode to hide obfuscated JavaScript that polls the Solana blockchain for memos and downloads a Node.js runtime to execute an information stealer; developers should search for the marker lzcdrtfxyqiplpd and inspect for persistence artefacts.

🔍 GitLab research outlines a North Korean campaign that impersonated recruiters in the 'Contagious Interview' scheme and resulted in the banning of 131 attributed accounts. Many GitLab projects served as obfuscated loaders for malware such as BeaverTail and Ottercookie, with payloads hosted outside repositories. Operators used consumer VPNs, VPSs and laptop farms and shifted to invite-only projects, NPM dependency abuse, sandbox detection and AI-generated personas to scale fake IT worker and freelance scams.

🔐 Google reports that UNC6426 leveraged keys stolen in the August 2025 compromise of the nx npm package to fully breach a customer's cloud environment in under 72 hours. A trojanized postinstall executed a credential stealer named QUIETVAULT, which harvested a developer's GitHub token and other secrets. The actor abused GitHub-to-AWS OIDC trust to create an Administrator role, exfiltrated S3 data, and performed destructive actions including making internal repos public.

⚠️ OX Security researchers disclosed multiple high-severity vulnerabilities in four widely used VS Code extensions — Live Server, Code Runner, Markdown Preview Enhanced, and Microsoft Live Preview — collectively installed more than 125 million times. The flaws can enable local-file exfiltration, arbitrary JavaScript execution, and settings-based code execution; three remain unpatched while Microsoft fixed an XSS-style issue in Live Preview in version 0.4.16 (September 2025). Researchers advise disabling or uninstalling non-essential or untrusted extensions, avoiding untrusted configurations, keeping extensions updated, and hardening local networks and firewalls.

🔒 OX Security disclosed critical and high-severity vulnerabilities in four widely used Visual Studio Code extensions with a combined 128 million downloads, exposing developers to file theft, remote code execution, and local network reconnaissance. Three CVEs were published; Microsoft privately patched Live Preview. The flaws also affected AI-powered IDEs Cursor and Windsurf, and OX Security said three maintainers did not respond to notifications. Researchers urge immediate updates, disabling unused extensions, and avoiding untrusted sites while localhost servers run.

⚠️Orca Security researchers disclosed multiple attack vectors in GitHub Codespaces that can produce remote code execution simply by opening a malicious repository or pull request. By embedding commands in repository configuration files—specifically .vscode/tasks.json, .vscode/settings.json and .devcontainer/devcontainer.json—an attacker can execute code, exfiltrate tokens and access secrets without further user interaction. Microsoft confirmed the behavior is "by design" and points to trusted-repository controls to limit cross-environment impact.

🔔 This ThreatsDay bulletin assembles concise signals — from GitHub Codespaces RCE vectors to mapped AsyncRAT C2 infrastructure — that show adversaries are streamlining access and persistence. It spotlights BYOVD kernel driver abuse in ransomware playbooks, an AI-assisted cloud intrusion reaching admin in minutes, and a CISA list expanding to 59 actively exploited CVEs. Defenders should prioritize developer workflow hardening, credential rotation, and rapid patching.

🔒 Fortinet researchers detailed a multi-stage phishing campaign targeting Russian organizations that delivers the Amnesia RAT and Hakuna Matata ransomware. Attackers use business-themed decoy documents and malicious LNK files that fetch staged PowerShell loaders from GitHub while binary payloads are hosted on Dropbox. The chain abuses defendnot to disable Microsoft Defender, leverages Telegram bots for telemetry and exfiltration, and assembles payloads in memory to minimize disk artifacts. Targeted recipients include HR and payroll staff, enabling credential theft, surveillance, and destructive encryption.

🔒 AWS now supports connecting AWS Security Agent to GitHub Enterprise Cloud, allowing organizations to apply AI-powered security analysis to private repositories. Customers install the AWS Security Agent GitHub app with required permissions to enable automated code reviews on pull requests, use the agent during penetration testing, and optionally have the agent submit PRs with recommended fixes. This capability is available in US East (N. Virginia).

⚠️ Recent analysis highlights that major DevOps SaaS platforms (e.g., GitHub, Jira, Azure DevOps) experienced widespread incidents in 2024–2025, with critical outages and degraded-service hours increasing sharply year‑over‑year. The piece argues the Shared Responsibility model leaves customers ultimately accountable for their data, and that native provider backups often create single points of failure with limited restore flexibility. It recommends multi‑layered, immutable backups, cross‑restore capability, defined RTO/RPOs, and continuous recovery testing to reduce financial, operational, and compliance risk.

⚠️ AI-powered VS Code forks such as Cursor, Windsurf, Google Antigravity and Trae were found recommending extensions that do not exist in the Open VSX registry, creating unclaimed namespaces attackers could register. Koi researcher Oren Yomtov showed that a single click on a suggested install (for example, a placeholder ms-ossdata.vscode-postgresql) can deploy a rogue package, and one placeholder received over 500 installs. Cursor and Google have released fixes, and the Eclipse Foundation removed non-official contributors and tightened registry safeguards. Developers should verify publishers before accepting IDE extension recommendations.

⚠ Forked IDEs based on Microsoft VSCode (such as Cursor, Windsurf, Google Antigravity and Trae) retain hardcoded extension recommendations that point to Microsoft's Visual Studio Marketplace. Because these forks use OpenVSX instead, several recommended publisher namespaces were unclaimed, enabling attackers to register them and publish malicious extensions. Supply-chain researchers at Koi claimed affected namespaces and uploaded inert placeholders while coordinating with the Eclipse Foundation to secure the registry.

🐀 Attackers are hosting counterfeit proof-of-concept exploit repositories on GitHub to deliver the Webrat backdoor to unsuspecting users. Kaspersky analysts observed polished, likely machine-generated README files that mask a password-protected ZIP; the archive password is hidden in filenames and often missed. Inside are decoy DLLs, batch loaders and executables (e.g., rasmanesc.exe) that disable Windows Defender, escalate privileges, and fetch the real payload from hardcoded C2 servers. The campaign, active since at least September 2025, appears tuned to catch novice researchers and students who analyze PoCs outside isolated environments.

🛡️ Kaspersky researchers found WebRAT backdoor being distributed through GitHub repositories that posed as proof‑of‑concept exploits for recently disclosed vulnerabilities. The malicious packages were delivered as password‑protected ZIPs containing a corrupted decoy DLL, a batch script, and a main dropper named rasmanesc.exe that elevates privileges, disables Defender, and downloads WebRAT. All identified repositories have been removed, but developers are urged to verify PoC sources and test untrusted code in isolated environments.

🔓 A security researcher reported that a Home Depot employee accidentally published a private GitHub access token in early 2024, which granted access to private repositories and cloud infrastructure. When tested, the token allowed write permissions to Home Depot repos and access to order fulfillment and inventory systems. The researcher said multiple disclosure emails went unanswered; the token was removed after TechCrunch contacted the company.

🛡️ Researchers warn that a wave of malicious GitHub repositories are distributing a newly observed JavaScript-based RAT called PyStoreRAT, delivered via minimal Python/JS loader stubs that fetch and execute remote HTA files through mshta.exe. The deceptive projects — marketed as OSINT utilities, DeFi bots, GPT wrappers, and developer tools — often exhibit non-functional or placeholder interfaces designed to build trust. Once executed, the multi-stage implant can run EXE, DLL, PowerShell, MSI, Python, and HTA modules and deploys a follow-on information stealer, Rhadamanthys. The initial stage also checks for security products such as CrowdStrike and Cybereason to reduce visibility and establishes persistence via a scheduled task masquerading as an NVIDIA update.

🔍 ReversingLabs uncovered a campaign that embedded malware in 19 Visual Studio Code extensions by tampering with bundled dependencies. Attackers replaced the widely used npm package path-is-absolute to execute a JavaScript dropper from a file named "lock" and hid two binaries inside an archive disguised as banner.png. The payloads were launched via cmstp.exe, including a process-terminating component and a Rust-based Trojan; Microsoft has been notified.

🔒 Recent research from the Wiz Customer Incident Response Team shows attackers are using exposed GitHub Personal Access Tokens (PATs) to retrieve GitHub Action Secrets and pivot into cloud environments. A read-level PAT can leverage GitHub’s API code search to locate secret references like "${{ secrets.SECRET_NAME }}" — and because those search API calls are not logged, discovery is stealthy. Once obtained, cloud provider credentials let attackers spin up resources, exfiltrate data, install malware, or persist while often evading detection. Organizations should treat PATs as privileged credentials: enforce expiration and rotation, remove cloud secrets from workflows, apply least privilege, and improve monitoring and developer training.

🛡️ The Shai-Hulud 2.0 campaign is a widescale npm supply-chain compromise that injects malicious preinstall scripts to execute a bundled Bun runtime and harvest cloud credentials. Microsoft Defender observed attackers installing GitHub Actions runners named SHA1HULUD, using TruffleHog to locate secrets, and exfiltrating stolen credentials to public repositories. The guidance outlines detections, hunting queries, and prioritized mitigations for developers, maintainers, and cloud defenders.