Attackers backdoored several widely used @asyncapi npm packages, together drawing around three million weekly downloads, by hijacking the project's GitHub Actions build pipeline rather than stealing a maintainer's npm token. Because the project's own release workflow published the malicious versions, they carried valid provenance signatures, which prove where a package came from but not that the code was trustworthy. The payload was hidden in normal runtime files behind trailing whitespace and ran when the module was imported, not on install, so defenses aimed at install scripts missed it. Once loaded, it fetched an encrypted second stage, stole credentials and cloud and registry tokens, and planted persistence, even in developer tool configuration files.
Researchers at JFrog found 148 npm packages that abused the registry not to attack developers but as free hosting for a booby-trapped web proxy aimed at students trying to bypass school filters. Anyone who opened one of the proxy sites had their browser quietly conscripted into a distributed denial-of-service botnet, flooding target servers with HTTP and WebSocket traffic, alongside injected ads and tracking. Crucially, the packages contained no install-time scripts and were never meant to be added to a project, so dependency scanners and install sandboxes, which watch what runs on install, would not catch them. The operators can re-arm the dormant attack code with a single commit.
Attackers used a stolen publishing credential to push malicious versions of the jscrambler npm package that install a Rust infostealer as soon as the package is added to a project. Socket ties five bad versions to the same actor, published over about three hours; the malware ships as native binaries for Windows, macOS, and Linux and sweeps developer machines for cloud credentials, crypto wallets, and password-manager vaults. Because jscrambler is a build-time tool used in development and CI, the stealer runs where deploy tokens, cloud keys, and source code live. Partway through, the dropper moved into the package's main code, so installing with scripts disabled does not stop it.
Attackers compromised a legitimate maintainer's GitHub account for the Injective blockchain SDK and used it to push a malicious version of the widely used @injectivelabs/sdk-ts npm package, which has around 50,000 weekly downloads. The tainted code, disguised as usage telemetry, hooked the SDK's wallet key-generation functions to capture private keys and seed phrases, then sent them to a server made to look like legitimate Injective infrastructure. Trusted-publishing automation spread the malicious release across 18 packages within minutes, though it was live under an hour before being pulled. Because the theft can reach apps that used the SDK only indirectly, any wallet keys handled by affected versions should be treated as compromised.
Socket found a coordinated campaign of 17 malicious packages on npm and PyPI that impersonate the payment SDKs for Paysafe, Skrill, and Neteller to steal developer and cloud credentials. The fake libraries mimic real SDKs, returning success responses without contacting the real services, while quietly harvesting environment secrets such as Paysafe API keys, AWS keys, and GitHub and npm tokens and sending them to a server on AWS. Because these packages get pulled into build pipelines, a single one reaching a continuous integration runner can hand over the broad credentials those runners hold. The npm versions trigger when a payment key is present; the PyPI versions run on install regardless.
Socket detailed PolinRider, an active North Korean supply-chain campaign that has planted 108 malicious packages and a browser extension across the npm, Go, and Packagist ecosystems, expanding the developer-targeting activity behind this week's Rollup npm packages. Operators take over legitimate GitHub maintainer accounts, often via expired-domain or account-recovery abuse, then bulk-modify repositories and publish infected versions. To stay hidden, they rewrite Git history so malicious commits look old, pad one-line loaders with whitespace to push them off screen, and disguise payloads as font files. Some trigger automatically through VS Code task settings when a developer simply opens the project folder in an editor like VS Code or Cursor.
JFrog found a new set of malicious npm packages, linked to North Korea, that impersonate legitimate Rollup polyfill tooling closely enough to pass a quick dependency review, down to matching names and metadata. Installing them pulls in hidden second-stage packages disguised as SVG utilities, which fetch and run a JavaScript payload while checking that they are not in a sandbox or cloud build. The malware hunts for developer secrets, and notably targets the configuration and history of AI coding tools like Cursor alongside AWS, Azure, SSH, and npm credentials. Because build plugins run on developer machines and in CI, a single poisoned dependency can expose source code, tokens, and cloud keys.
Socket reports a new wave of the self-spreading Shai-Hulud supply-chain worm, in its Miasma and Hades variants, that compromised more npm packages and, for the first time, reached the Go ecosystem. On June 24 attackers used a hijacked maintainer account to push trojanized versions of LeoPlatform and RStreams npm packages, tied to cloud and serverless workloads, and also poisoned a Go module from the Verana blockchain project. The malware harvests developer and CI/CD credentials, abuses GitHub Actions, and polls GitHub hourly for a marker commit to pull down its Hades payload. Researchers note the campaign keeps shifting ecosystems and indicators to stay ahead of detection rather than changing its core behavior.
JFrog found malicious npm packages that impersonate PostCSS build tools to drop a multi-stage Windows remote-access trojan on developer machines. One package, postcss-minify-selector-parser, is named to look like the widely used postcss-selector-parser library, which sees over 127 million weekly downloads, and even lists the real package as a dependency to seem plausible during a quick review. Once installed, it writes and runs a PowerShell script that pulls down the trojan. A second cluster of five packages delivers a dropper during npm install, with one server-side component that only serves the payload to victims matching a specific signature. Affected developers should remove the packages and rotate credentials.
Attackers hijacked the npm account of a former contributor to Mastra, a popular open-source framework for building AI applications, and in an 88-minute automated burst republished 144 packages under the @mastra scope with a hidden malicious dependency. The poisoned dependency, a fake clone of a date library, runs at install time: it disables TLS checks, downloads a second-stage cryptocurrency-stealing trojan, runs it as a detached process, and deletes itself. Because @mastra/core alone sees over 900,000 weekly downloads and the payload fires on install, anyone who installed an affected version since June 16 could be compromised before importing anything. npm has pulled the malicious versions.
TrustStrike Labs