454,000+ Malicious Open Source Packages Discovered in 2026
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Researchers reported a surge in malicious open source packages, with 454,648 new malicious packages discovered in 2026. These packages are increasingly used in sustained, industrialized campaigns, often state-sponsored, targeting developer machines and CI/CD pipelines. The threat landscape includes repository abuse, potentially unwanted apps, and multi-stage attacks involving host information exfiltration, droppers, and backdoors. Additionally, AI-assisted development is exacerbating the risk by recommending non-existent versions and failing to check for malicious indicators.
Timeline
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28.01.2026 13:00 1 articles · 23h ago
2026 Sees Surge in Malicious Open Source Packages
In 2026, researchers discovered 454,648 new malicious open source packages, indicating a shift from spam and stunts to sustained, industrialized campaigns. These packages are increasingly used in multi-stage attacks targeting developer machines and CI/CD pipelines. The report also highlights the role of AI in exacerbating the risk by recommending non-existent versions and failing to check for malicious indicators.
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- Researchers Uncover 454,000+ Malicious Open Source Packages — www.infosecurity-magazine.com — 28.01.2026 13:00
Information Snippets
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Developers downloaded open source components 9.8 trillion times in 2026 across Maven Central, PyPI, npm, and NuGet.
First reported: 28.01.2026 13:001 source, 1 articleShow sources
- Researchers Uncover 454,000+ Malicious Open Source Packages — www.infosecurity-magazine.com — 28.01.2026 13:00
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56% of malicious packages were classified as repository abuse, including spammy links and TEA token harvesting.
First reported: 28.01.2026 13:001 source, 1 articleShow sources
- Researchers Uncover 454,000+ Malicious Open Source Packages — www.infosecurity-magazine.com — 28.01.2026 13:00
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28% of malicious packages were categorized as potentially unwanted apps, such as empty packages and spam bot frameworks.
First reported: 28.01.2026 13:001 source, 1 articleShow sources
- Researchers Uncover 454,000+ Malicious Open Source Packages — www.infosecurity-magazine.com — 28.01.2026 13:00
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Threat actors use social and technical mimicry, including typosquatting, namespace confusion, and toolchain masquerading.
First reported: 28.01.2026 13:001 source, 1 articleShow sources
- Researchers Uncover 454,000+ Malicious Open Source Packages — www.infosecurity-magazine.com — 28.01.2026 13:00
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AI models and container images are being used to hide malicious payloads, distributed through platforms like Hugging Face.
First reported: 28.01.2026 13:001 source, 1 articleShow sources
- Researchers Uncover 454,000+ Malicious Open Source Packages — www.infosecurity-magazine.com — 28.01.2026 13:00
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28% of AI-assisted dependency upgrades were hallucinations, recommending non-existent versions.
First reported: 28.01.2026 13:001 source, 1 articleShow sources
- Researchers Uncover 454,000+ Malicious Open Source Packages — www.infosecurity-magazine.com — 28.01.2026 13:00
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40% of vulnerable Maven Central releases and 39% of NuGet releases carried CVSS 9.0+ scores in 2025.
First reported: 28.01.2026 13:001 source, 1 articleShow sources
- Researchers Uncover 454,000+ Malicious Open Source Packages — www.infosecurity-magazine.com — 28.01.2026 13:00
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65% of open source CVEs were not assigned CVSS scores by the National Vulnerability Database (NVD).
First reported: 28.01.2026 13:001 source, 1 articleShow sources
- Researchers Uncover 454,000+ Malicious Open Source Packages — www.infosecurity-magazine.com — 28.01.2026 13:00