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Malicious PyPI and npm Packages Exploit Dependencies in Supply Chain Attacks

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📰 2 unique sources, 4 articles

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Cybersecurity researchers have identified malicious packages in the Python Package Index (PyPI) and npm repositories that exploit dependencies to execute supply chain attacks. The PyPI package termncolor, with 355 downloads, and its dependency colorinal, with 529 downloads, were found to perform DLL side-loading to achieve persistence and remote code execution. The malware can infect both Windows and Linux systems. Additionally, npm packages were discovered to harvest sensitive data, including iCloud Keychain, web browser, and cryptocurrency wallet information. The attacks highlight the risks associated with automated dependency upgrades and the importance of monitoring open-source ecosystems for potential threats. In a recent supply chain attack, attackers injected malware into npm packages with over 2.6 billion weekly downloads after compromising a maintainer's account in a phishing attack. The attack impacted roughly 10% of all cloud environments. The malware operates by injecting itself into the web browser, monitoring cryptocurrency transactions, and redirecting them to attacker-controlled wallet addresses. The compromised packages include debug, chalk, and ansi-styles, among others. The impact of the attack is limited to fresh installs between ~9 AM and ~11.30 AM ET on September 8, 2025, when the packages were compromised. This attack follows a series of similar incidents targeting JavaScript libraries, highlighting the ongoing threat to the open-source ecosystem.

Timeline

  1. 08.09.2025 19:47 📰 3 articles

    Supply Chain Attack on npm Packages with 2.6 Billion Weekly Downloads

    Attackers injected malware into npm packages with over 2.6 billion weekly downloads after compromising a maintainer's account in a phishing attack. The malware operates by injecting itself into the web browser, monitoring cryptocurrency transactions, and redirecting them to attacker-controlled wallet addresses. The compromised packages include debug, chalk, and ansi-styles, among others. The impact of the attack is limited to fresh installs between ~9 AM and ~11.30 AM ET on September 8, 2025, when the packages were compromised. This attack follows a series of similar incidents targeting JavaScript libraries, highlighting the ongoing threat to the open-source ecosystem. The maintainer's account was compromised through a phishing attack, which mimicked an npm support email. The phishing attack prompted the maintainer to enter their username, password, and 2FA token. The compromised packages include ansi-regex, ansi-styles, backslash, chalk, chalk-template, color-convert, color-name, color-string, debug, error-ex, has-ansi, is-arrayish, proto-tinker-wc, supports-hyperlinks, simple-swizzle, slice-ansi, strip-ansi, supports-color, supports-hyperlinks, wrap-ansi. The malware intercepts cryptocurrency transaction requests and swaps the destination wallet address with an attacker-controlled wallet. The payload acts as a browser-based interceptor that hijacks network traffic and application APIs to steal cryptocurrency assets. The attack targeted end users with connected wallets who visit a site that includes the compromised code. The attack also compromised another high-profile maintainer, duckdb_admin, to distribute the same wallet-drainer malware. The affected packages include @coveops/abi, @duckdb/duckdb-wasm, @duckdb/node-api, @duckdb/node-bindings, duckdb, prebid, prebid-universal-creative. The attack impacted roughly 10% of all cloud environments. The compromised packages were removed within two hours. The attack targeted browser environments, hooking Ethereum and Solana signing requests. The attackers made less than $1,000. The attackers' wallet addresses have been flagged, limiting their ability to use the funds.

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  2. 18.08.2025 13:56 📰 1 articles

    Malicious PyPI and npm Packages Exploit Dependencies in Supply Chain Attacks

    Cybersecurity researchers have identified malicious packages in the Python Package Index (PyPI) and npm repositories that exploit dependencies to execute supply chain attacks. The PyPI package termncolor, with 355 downloads, and its dependency colorinal, with 529 downloads, were found to perform DLL side-loading to achieve persistence and remote code execution. The malware can infect both Windows and Linux systems. Additionally, npm packages were discovered to harvest sensitive data, including iCloud Keychain, web browser, and cryptocurrency wallet information.

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