Threat actors have recently been discovered uploading malicious versions of popular npm packages, specifically targeting typosquatting vulnerabilities. These counterfeit packages, including @typescript_eslinter/eslint and types-node, have accumulated thousands of downloads from developers unaware of their malicious nature.

The analysis conducted by Sonatype highlighted how these malicious packages were cleverly designed to impersonate legitimate tools. For instance, the @typescript_eslinter/eslint package points to a fraudulent GitHub repository created on November 29, 2024. Among its files is a deceptive script named prettier.bat, which is not actually a batch file but rather a Windows executable previously flagged as a trojan on VirusTotal.

The second package, types-node, acts as a downloader, contacting a Pastebin URL to retrieve and execute a malicious executable masquerading as npm.exe. This malicious behavior exemplifies the growing sophistication of attackers, who aim to inflate download counts to gain trust for their harmful components.

Sonatype’s report underscores a pressing need for improved supply chain security and vigilance when sourcing third-party software. In recent months, malicious extensions have also been discovered in the Visual Studio Code Marketplace, predominantly targeting the crypto community initially, then evolving to mimic widely-used applications like Zoom. These extensions utilize obfuscated JavaScript to download additional payloads from remote servers, further increasing the potential for harm.

These incidents serve as a crucial reminder to developers to exercise caution when downloading libraries and tools from open-source repositories, as they can introduce malicious code into their projects and compromise the entire development cycle.

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