All news with #typosquatting tag

Typosquatted npm Package Targets GitHub Actions Builds

⚠️ A malicious npm package, @acitons/artifact, impersonated the legitimate @actions/artifact module and was uploaded on November 7 to specifically target GitHub Actions CI/CD workflows. It included a post-install hook that executed an obfuscated shell-script named "harness," which fetched a JavaScript payload (verify.js) to detect GitHub runners and exfiltrate build tokens. Using those tokens the attacker could publish artifacts and impersonate GitHub; the package accrued over 260,000 downloads across six versions before detection.

CISO Guide: Defending Against AI Supply-Chain Attacks

⚠️ AI-enabled supply chain attacks have surged in scale and sophistication, with malicious package uploads to open-source repositories rising 156% year-over-year and real incidents — from PyPI trojans to compromises of Hugging Face, GitHub and npm — already impacting production environments. These threats are polymorphic, context-aware, semantically camouflaged and temporally evasive, rendering signature-based tools increasingly ineffective. CISOs should prioritize AI-aware detection, behavioral provenance, runtime containment and strict contributor verification immediately to reduce exposure and satisfy emerging regulatory obligations such as the EU AI Act.

Vidar Infostealer Delivered Through Malicious npm Packages

🔒 Datadog Security researchers found 17 npm packages (23 releases) that used a postinstall downloader to execute the Vidar infostealer on Windows systems. The trojanized modules masqueraded as Telegram bot helpers, icon libraries, and forks of libraries like Cursor and React, and were available for about two weeks with at least 2,240 downloads before the accounts were banned. Organizations should adopt SBOMs, SCA, internal registries, add ignore-scripts policies, and enable real-time package scanning to reduce supply chain risk.

Modern Software Supply-Chain Attacks and Impact Today

🔒 Modern supply-chain incidents like the Chalk and Debug hijacks show that impact goes far beyond direct financial theft. Response teams worldwide paused work, scanned environments, and executed remediation efforts even though researchers at Socket Security traced the attackers' on-chain haul to roughly $600. The larger cost is operational disruption, repeated investigations, and erosion of trust across OSS ecosystems. Organizations must protect people, registries, and CI/CD pipelines to contain downstream contamination.

Typosquatted npm Packages Deliver Cross-Platform Stealer

🚨 A multi-stage supply-chain campaign published ten typosquatted npm packages on July 4 that collectively reached nearly 10,000 downloads before removal, according to Socket. Each package abused npm’s postinstall lifecycle to open a new terminal, present a fake CAPTCHA prompt, and retrieve a PyInstaller-packed binary that harvests credentials from browsers, OS keyrings, SSH keys, tokens and cloud configuration files. The JavaScript installers combined four layers of obfuscation with social engineering to evade detection and delay scrutiny while exfiltrating collected secrets to the attacker’s host.

Typosquatted npm Packages Deploy Cross-Platform Infostealer

🚨 Ten typosquatted packages on npm were found delivering a 24 MB PyInstaller infostealer that targets Windows, Linux, and macOS. Uploaded on July 4 and downloaded nearly 10,000 times, the packages used heavy obfuscation and a fake CAPTCHA to evade detection. Researchers at Socket say the malware harvests keyrings, browser credentials, SSH keys and API tokens, then exfiltrates data to a remote server. Developers who installed these packages should remove them, perform remediation, and rotate all secrets.

Malicious npm Packages Steal Developer Credentials

⚠️ Security researchers revealed 10 typosquatted npm packages uploaded on July 4, 2025, that install a cross-platform information stealer targeting Windows, macOS, and Linux. The packages impersonated popular libraries and use a postinstall hook to open a terminal, display a fake CAPTCHA, fingerprint victims, and download a 24MB PyInstaller stealer. The obfuscated JavaScript fetches a data_extracter binary from an attacker server, harvests credentials from browsers, system keyrings, SSH keys and config files, compresses the data into a ZIP, and exfiltrates it to the remote host.

Malicious npm, PyPI and RubyGems Packages Use Discord C2

⚠️ Researchers at a software supply chain security firm found multiple malicious packages across npm, PyPI, and RubyGems that use Discord webhooks as a command-and-control channel to exfiltrate developer secrets. Examples include npm packages that siphon config files and a Ruby gem that sends host files like /etc/passwd to a hard-coded webhook. The investigators warn that webhook-based C2 is cheap, fast, and blends into normal traffic, enabling early-stage compromise via install-time hooks and build scripts. The disclosure also links a large North Korean campaign that published hundreds of malicious packages to deliver stealers and backdoors.

Playing Offside: Threat Actors Targeting FIFA 2026

⚽ As the 2026 FIFA World Cup approaches, threat actors are already preparing by registering thousands of event-related domains and staging deception campaigns. In the two months since 1 August 2025, researchers identified over 4,300 newly registered domains referencing FIFA, the World Cup, or host cities; many look innocuous but present risks including phishing, fake ticketing, and malware delivery. The findings underline the need for proactive domain monitoring, stronger email and web defenses, and coordinated threat intelligence sharing among organizers, sponsors, and security teams to protect fans and partners.

Malicious Rust crates stole Solana and Ethereum keys

🛡️ Security researchers discovered two malicious Rust crates impersonating the legitimate fast_log library that covertly scanned source files for Solana and Ethereum private keys and exfiltrated matches to a hardcoded command-and-control endpoint. Published on May 25, 2025 under the aliases rustguruman and dumbnbased, the packages — faster_log and async_println — accumulated 8,424 downloads before crates.io maintainers removed them following responsible disclosure. Socket and crates.io preserved logs and artifacts for analysis, and maintainers noted the payload executed at runtime when projects were run or tested rather than at build time.

Lighthouse and Lucid PhaaS Linked to 17,500 Phishing Domains

🔍 Netcraft reports that the PhaaS platforms Lucid and Lighthouse are linked to more than 17,500 phishing domains impersonating 316 brands across 74 countries. Lucid, first documented by PRODAFT in April, supports smishing via Apple iMessage and RCS and is tied to the Chinese-speaking XinXin group. Both services offer customizable templates, real-time victim monitoring, and granular targeting controls (User-Agent, proxy country, configured paths) that restrict access to intended victims. Lighthouse subscriptions run from $88 per week to $1,588 per year, underscoring the commercial scale of these offerings.

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.

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.

Malicious npm Package Masquerades as Nodemailer Library

⚠️ A malicious npm package named nodejs-smtp impersonating the popular nodemailer library was discovered to both send mail and inject malware into Electron-based desktop cryptocurrency wallets. When imported, it unpacked and tampered with Atomic Wallet on Windows, replacing vendor files and repackaging the app to silently redirect transactions to attacker-controlled addresses. Socket's researchers prompted npm to remove the package and suspend the account.

Supply-Chain Attack on npm Nx Steals Developer Credentials

🔒 A sophisticated supply-chain attack targeted the widely used Nx build-system packages on the npm registry, exposing developer credentials and sensitive files. According to a report from Wiz, attackers published malicious Nx versions on August 26, 2025 that harvested GitHub and npm tokens, SSH keys, environment variables and cryptocurrency wallets. The campaign uniquely abused installed AI CLI tools (for example, Claude and Gemini) by passing dangerous permission flags to exfiltrate file-system contents and perform reconnaissance, then uploaded roughly 20,000 files to attacker-controlled public repositories. Organizations should remove affected package versions, rotate exposed credentials and inspect developer workstations and CI/CD pipelines for persistence.

VS Code Marketplace Flaw Lets Deleted Extensions Be Reused

🔍 Researchers at ReversingLabs found a loophole in the Visual Studio Code Marketplace that permits threat actors to republish removed extensions under the same visible names. The new malicious package, ahbanC.shiba, mirrors earlier flagged extensions and acts as a downloader for a PowerShell payload that encrypts files in a folder named "testShiba" and demands a Shiba Inu token ransom. Investigation revealed that extension uniqueness is enforced by the combination of publisher and name, not the visible name alone, enabling attackers to reuse names once an extension is removed. Organizations should audit extension IDs, enforce whitelists, and run automated supply-chain scanning to reduce exposure.

VS Code Marketplace Name Reuse Enables Malware Campaign

🔍 ReversingLabs has exposed a campaign in which malicious Visual Studio Code extensions exploited a name-reuse loophole on the VS Code Marketplace. A downloader extension named ahbanC.shiba executed the command shiba.aowoo to fetch a second payload that encrypted files and demanded one Shiba Inu token, although no wallet address was provided. The vulnerability arises because removed extensions free their names for reuse, contrary to Marketplace guidance that names are unique. Researchers demonstrated the issue by republishing test extensions under previously used names and warned developers to exercise greater caution when installing Marketplace packages.

What 17,845 GitHub MCP Servers Reveal About Risk and Abuse

🛡️ VirusTotal ran a large-scale audit of 17,845 GitHub projects implementing the MCP (Model Context Protocol) using Code Insight powered by Gemini 2.5 Flash. The automated review initially surfaced an overwhelming number of issues, and a refined prompt focused on intentional malice marked 1,408 repos as likely malicious. Manual checks showed many flagged projects were demos or PoCs, but the analysis still exposed numerous real attack vectors—credential harvesting, remote code execution via exec/subprocess, supply-chain tricks—and recurring insecure practices. The post recommends treating MCP servers like browser extensions: sign and pin versions, sandbox or WASM-isolate them, enforce strict permissions and filter model outputs to remove invisible or malicious content.