Changelog Master Feed npm under siege (what to do about it) (Changelog & Friends #111)
Oct 3, 2025
Feross Aboukhadijeh, a security researcher and founder of Socket, dives into the alarming rise of supply chain attacks in the npm ecosystem. He discusses recent phishing campaigns, account takeovers, and the innovative ways attackers exploit vulnerabilities. The conversation highlights practical defenses for developers, like avoiding pull_request_target and implementing publish delays. Feross also unveils Socket's new GitHub Actions scanning features and emphasizes the ongoing threat of typosquatting, advocating for a balanced approach to open publishing and security.
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Recent Surge In NPM Supply‑Chain Attacks
- The last two months saw some of the most serious npm supply-chain attacks ever, including phishing and maintainer takeovers.
- Malware reached packages with billions of weekly downloads, showing broad impact and diverse attack methods.
Copycat Effect Amplified Attacks
- Attackers rapidly copied effective phishing lures and iterated on takeover techniques.
- The wave looked like many actors one‑upping each other, not a single coordinated crew.
LLM CLI Used As Malicious Payload
- The NX compromise used novel payloads: AI CLI tools (Claude/Gemini) to scan files via English prompts.
- Attackers tried to hide malicious intent by expressing benign‑sounding prompts to LLM CLIs.