Following a recent incident where a malicious individual infiltrated project XZ by posing as a developer to gain the trust of project administrators and submit malicious code, OpenSSF and OpenJS have issued a warning about similar attacks on other projects. The method of attack closely resembles what was done to project XZ, involving the submission of seemingly harmless code that aims to quickly integrate into the project. Subsequently, other accounts would join in to complain about the slow integration of the code. The code submitted is often difficult to read, contains malicious binaries, or attempts to alter the project’s compilation process.
OpenSSF oversees several critical projects such as jQuery, Node.js, Electron, webpack, and ESLint. However, this report does not specify which projects have been targeted in this attack. The report recommends that other open-source projects exercise caution, from basic security measures like implementing 2FA and using unique passwords to secure code development practices. It is advised to conduct regular code reviews and reject code that is overly complex. Additionally, occasional reviews should be conducted to ascertain familiarity with developers within the project.
Source: OpenSSF
TLDR: Malicious actors are posing as developers to submit harmful code to projects, prompting warnings from OpenSSF and OpenJS. Projects are advised to enhance their security measures and conduct thorough code reviews regularly.
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