All news with #supply chain backdoor tag

WhiteCobra Floods VSCode Market with Malicious Extensions

⚠️ A threat actor known as WhiteCobra has been publishing malicious VSIX extensions across VS Code Marketplace and OpenVSX, targeting users of VSCode, Cursor, and Windsurf with professionally crafted listings. The campaign comprises at least 24 identified extensions and remains active as the actor quickly re-uploads packages after takedown. Installed extensions execute a small loader that fetches platform-specific payloads; on Windows this chain leads to deployment of LummaStealer, while macOS builds execute a malicious Mach-O. Researchers warn that polished icons, forged descriptions, and inflated download counts were used to lend credibility and trick developers into installing the packages.

Token Management Risks in the Third-Party Supply Chain

🔐 This Unit 42 report describes how compromised OAuth tokens in third‑party integrations create severe supply‑chain exposure, using recent incidents as examples. It highlights three recurring weaknesses: dormant integrations, insecure token storage and long‑lived credentials, and explains how attackers exploit these to exfiltrate data and pivot. The authors recommend token posture management, encrypted secret storage and centralized runtime monitoring to detect and revoke abused tokens quickly.

Cursor Code Editor Flaw Enables Silent Code Execution

⚠ Cursor, an AI-powered fork of Visual Studio Code, ships with Workspace Trust disabled by default, enabling VS Code-style tasks configured with runOptions.runOn: 'folderOpen' to auto-execute when a folder is opened. Oasis Security showed a malicious .vscode/tasks.json can convert a casual repository browse into silent arbitrary code execution with the user's privileges. Users should enable Workspace Trust, audit untrusted projects, or open suspicious repos in other editors to mitigate risk.

Beaches and Breaches: Shifts in Supply Chain and Identity

🌊 Returning from vacation, the author notes headlines shifted away from AI and ransomware toward breaches tied to compromised OAuth tokens and integrations like Salesloft/Drift. The piece emphasizes two converging trends: supply chain risk that now includes datapaths where information is processed, and identity attacks that increasingly target interconnected applications. It highlights Cisco Talos’ CTI-CMM as a practical maturity framework to assess gaps, prioritize investments, and build a roadmap for continuous improvement.

Cursor autorun flaw lets repos auto-execute code silently

⚠ Cursor's autorun feature can allow repositories to execute code automatically when a folder is opened in Visual Studio Code with Cursor installed. Oasis Security researchers demonstrated that attackers can embed hidden instructions that trigger commands tied to workspace events without a developer's consent. With Workspace Trust disabled by default in Cursor, opening a project can enable token theft, file tampering or persistent malware. Developers should treat unknown repositories cautiously and enable available trust controls.

Cursor autorun flaw lets repos execute arbitrary code

🔓 Oasis Security disclosed a flaw in Cursor that allows malicious repositories to execute code when a developer opens a folder. The vulnerability stems from Workspace Trust being disabled by default, permitting crafted .vscode/tasks.json entries set to run on folder open to autorun without prompting. Successful exploitation can expose API keys, cloud credentials and local secrets, risking organization-wide compromise.

Malicious npm Code Reached 10% of Cloud Environments

⚠️ Security researchers warn a supply‑chain attack on npm briefly propagated trojanized versions of widely used packages after the developer account qix was hijacked via social engineering. The malicious updates contained crypto‑stealing payloads that could rewrite wallet recipients in browsers if bundled into frontend builds. Vendor Wiz reports the code was present in about 10% of cloud environments during a two‑hour window, and JFrog says additional accounts, including DuckDB, were impacted. Organizations are advised to blocklist affected versions, rebuild from clean caches, invalidate CDN assets, and hunt for affected bundles and anomalous signing activity.

Data Is the New Diamond: Evolving Salesforce Data Theft

🔒 Recent Unit 42 analysis details ongoing data theft campaigns targeting Salesforce environments, notably a Salesloft Drift supply chain intrusion attributed to UNC6395 that may have started with reconnaissance as early as March 2025. Threat actors claiming links to Muddled Libra and Bling Libra have promoted stolen datasets on Telegram and announced new RaaS ambitions, while some channels were removed by September 5. Unit 42 emphasizes the prominence of social engineering by operatives tied to "The Com," predicts shifts toward data theft extortion and other monetization tactics, and recommends engagement with RH-ISAC, adoption of Salesforce mitigations, and use of Unit 42 incident insights to strengthen people and process defenses.

Open Source Community Stops Large npm Supply-Chain Attack

🔒 A rapid open source response contained a supply-chain compromise after maintainer Josh Junon (known as 'qix') reported his npm account was hijacked on September 8. Malicious versions of widely used packages including chalk, strip-ansi and color-convert were published embedding an crypto-clipper that swaps wallet addresses and hijacks transactions. The community and npm removed tainted releases within hours, limiting financial impact and exposure.

Massive npm Supply Chain Attack Compromises 18 Packages

🔓 Security firm Aikido uncovered a coordinated supply chain attack that injected obfuscated, browser-based malware into 18 popular npm packages — including chalk, debug, and ansi-styles — collectively receiving two billion weekly downloads. The malicious updates, pushed beginning September 8, intercept and manipulate web3 and crypto interactions in the browser to silently rewrite payment destinations and approvals. The campaign originated from a phishing operation that abused a typosquatted domain (npmjs.help) to compromise maintainer accounts, and although the attacker demonstrated web3 knowledge, tracked losses were modest (~$970). Researchers warn enterprise defenses are largely blind to this API-level interceptor and call for stronger attestation and signed publication workflows.

Popular npm packages trojanized to mine cryptocurrency

⚠️ Several widely used npm packages were trojanized after attackers phished maintainers, injecting obfuscated JavaScript that turns affected web applications into cryptodrainers. The malicious code executes in visitors' browsers, intercepting network traffic and API requests to rewrite cryptocurrency wallet addresses for Ethereum, Bitcoin, Solana, Litecoin, Bitcoin Cash and Tron and redirect funds to attacker-controlled wallets. npm removed infected packages about three hours after the attack began, but total downloads during that window remain unknown. Developers are advised to audit dependencies, pin safe versions with overrides in package.json, and use anti-phishing protections.

Phished Maintainer Leads to Compromise of 20 npm Packages

⚠️ A maintainer of widely used npm packages was phished, allowing attackers to publish malicious updates to 20 modules that together exceed two billion weekly downloads. Researchers from Aikido Security and Socket found the injected payload hooks browser APIs (window.fetch, XMLHttpRequest, window.ethereum.request) to intercept and rewrite cryptocurrency transactions. The malware substitutes recipient addresses by computing Levenshtein distance to closely match intended wallets, putting end users and developers who connect wallets at risk. The incident highlights the persistent supply-chain threat to package ecosystems.

18 Popular JavaScript Packages Hijacked to Steal Crypto

🔐 Akido researchers found that at least 18 widely used JavaScript packages on NPM were briefly modified after a maintainer was phished, impacting libraries downloaded collectively more than two billion times weekly. The injected code acted as a stealthy browser interceptor, capturing and rewriting cryptocurrency wallet interactions and payment destinations to attacker-controlled accounts. The changes were rapidly removed, but experts warn the same vector could deliver far more disruptive supply-chain malware if not addressed. Security specialists urge mandatory phish-resistant 2FA and stronger commit attestation for high-impact packages.

Attackers Inject Malware into Popular npm Packages

🚨 Attackers phished and hijacked a package maintainer's account via a fake support domain, then updated index.js files in multiple npm packages to inject a browser-based interceptor. The malicious code targets web clients, monitoring Ethereum, Bitcoin, Solana, Tron, Litecoin and Bitcoin Cash transactions and replacing wallet destinations to redirect funds. Affected packages collectively account for over 2.6 billion weekly downloads, making this a substantial supply-chain compromise. Investigation and remediation are ongoing.

GhostAction Supply-Chain Attack Steals 3,325 Secrets

🔒 GitGuardian uncovered a widespread supply-chain campaign it named GhostAction after detecting suspicious activity in a FastUUID GitHub repository. A compromised maintainer pushed a malicious GitHub Actions workflow that harvested secrets, initially capturing a PyPI token, and further investigation revealed hundreds of similar commits across multiple repositories. In total 3,325 secrets were exfiltrated from 817 repositories belonging to 327 users, with DockerHub credentials, GitHub tokens and npm tokens among the most common. GitGuardian notified platform security teams and many affected projects have begun reverting malicious changes while investigations continue.

Czech Agency Warns Against Chinese Tech in Critical Sectors

⚠️ The Czech National Cyber and Information Security Agency (NUKIB) is urging operators of critical infrastructure to avoid using Chinese technology or transferring user data to servers in China, citing a reassessed High risk of significant disruption. NUKIB confirmed malicious activity by Chinese cyber-actors, including an APT31 campaign against the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and warned that Chinese law can permit state access to data held by domestic providers. The guidance is not an outright legal ban, but entities covered by the Czech Cybersecurity Act must include the threat in their risk analyses and adopt appropriate mitigations.

AI-powered Nx malware exposes 2,180 GitHub accounts

🔒 A backdoored NPM package published from the Nx repository delivered a post-install credential stealer named telemetry.js, which targeted Linux and macOS systems for GitHub and npm tokens, SSH keys, .env files and crypto wallets. The malware exfiltrated harvested secrets to public repositories named s1ngularity-repository. Attackers unusually used AI CLI tools (Claude, Q, Gemini) to run tuned LLM prompts for better credential harvesting. Nx and GitHub removed the packages, revoked tokens, and implemented 2FA, tokenless publishing and manual PR approvals.

Malicious npm Packages Impersonate Flashbots, Steal Keys

🔑 Researchers found four malicious npm packages impersonating Flashbots and common cryptographic utilities to harvest Ethereum wallet credentials. Uploaded by user "flashbotts" between September 2023 and August 19, 2025, the libraries exfiltrate private keys and mnemonic seed phrases to a Telegram bot and transmit environment data via Mailtrap SMTP. One package also redirects unsigned transactions to an attacker-controlled wallet.

Malicious npm Packages Use Ethereum Smart Contracts

🔒 Cybersecurity researchers discovered two malicious npm packages that use Ethereum smart contracts to hide commands and deliver downloader malware to compromised systems. The packages — colortoolsv2 (7 downloads) and mimelib2 (1 download) — were uploaded in July 2025 and removed from the registry. The campaign leveraged a network of GitHub repositories posing as crypto trading tools and is linked to a distribution-as-service operation called Stargazers Ghost Network. Developers are urged to scrutinize packages and maintainers beyond surface metrics before adopting libraries.

Malicious npm Packages Use Ethereum Smart Contracts

🛡️A new campaign used malicious npm packages to hide command-and-control URLs inside Ethereum smart contracts, evading typical static detection. ReversingLabs researcher Karlo Zanki uncovered packages colortoolsv2 and mimelib2 that delivered second-stage payloads via blockchain-held URLs. The threat also included fake GitHub projects, such as solana-trading-bot-v2, built to appear legitimate. Developers are urged to vet dependencies and maintainers beyond superficial metrics.