The Bitwarden security team identified and contained a malicious package that was briefly distributed through the npm delivery path for @bitwarden/cli@2026.4.0 between 5:57 PM and 7:30 PM (ET) on April 22, 2026, in connection with a broader Checkmarx supply chain incident. The investigation found no evidence that end user vault data was accessed or at risk, or that production data or production systems were compromised. Once the issue was detected, compromised access was revoked, the malicious ...
Humans are required to solve a malicious insider. But most supply chain vulns of these shitty software dependency managers were resolved decades ago by freely available cryptography
I know this is a joke but im old enough we used to install the os and had it on the network and eventually update it but then it got to the point were like being connected to the internet for like a minute and the machines were compromised. Thats when we got off our duffs and started making custom installs that had updates and configurations and software pre installed before we even connected it to the net.
We just recently switched from npm to pnpm, due to all the supply chain attacks. I did the PR for it, even.
Our release schedule is like a year though so we don’t really have to worry much about releasing compromised dependencies. But still, better to be on the safer side.
Unfortunately I have to use node for home project (Jellyfin tizen)
I was wondering: would it be possible to run node in a sandbox to lower the scope of the attack? (i.e. not compromise my home computer)
Or is maybe a full VM a better solution?
In case of NPM version pinning is a good practice. But also set it to ignore post install scripts. They are a bad practice and only about 2 % of all packages use it so it is unlikely it will bother you. They, the post install scripts, were used in recent supply chain attacks btw (the axios). You can either set it project wide in .npmrc file, add ignore-scripts=true, that is good for project where multiple people collaborate. And/Or system wide by running npm config set ignore-scripts true for your personal workspace. You can also achieve it by using --ignore-scripts flag during npm install, but that is way too impractical to always think about it.
Also I would recommend checking npq, its a wrapper around npm cli that will give you some security summary before installing anything (and it is able to give you warning about post install scripts).
Yes, that is exactly how the axios supply chain attack worked… It ran post install script (on dependency) that downloaded malware, ran it and even cleaned it up. Everything on that machine was compromised…
It can be any dependency of dependency too, deep down in the tree…
Don’t. Use. Npm.
That applies to pip and crate and all the other shitty lang package managers that totally fail at security
What should be used instead?
Easy, just vendor all your dependencies! Can’t have a supply chain attack if you are the supply chain.
A package manager that uses cryptographic signatures. Apt had this since 2005 iirc. Use apt.
Apt is great, but it does not work with every language. As an example, you cannot use apt with maven (java) AFAIK.
Oh boy. Maven is like the only language dependency manager that does signing tho!
You don’t need to use apt for java. Just use maven :)
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Packages are reviewed by package maintainers.
Humans are required to solve a malicious insider. But most supply chain vulns of these shitty software dependency managers were resolved decades ago by freely available cryptography
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Honestly just fine use computers at all, completely eliminate the remote attack vector. And only drink rain water since city water can be compromised.
Or, recognize this is a normal part of using software and have more than 1 thing between you and a breach
The rules of cybersecurity:
Under no circumstances should you own a computer.
If you absolutely must own a computer, under no circumstances should you connect it to the internet.
If you absolutely must connect it to the internet, it’s too late and they already have you
I know this is a joke but im old enough we used to install the os and had it on the network and eventually update it but then it got to the point were like being connected to the internet for like a minute and the machines were compromised. Thats when we got off our duffs and started making custom installs that had updates and configurations and software pre installed before we even connected it to the net.
Dude, rain water is full of pollutants too. 😂
Apt works great
it’s much more convenient when you use something like btrfs-snapshots
what about cargo?
Same problem.
use https://mozilla.github.io/cargo-vet/
so many workplaces I have been at used npm.
Yep. And so many workplaces have had security vulnerabilities caused by dumb decisions that could have been easily avoided
We just recently switched from npm to pnpm, due to all the supply chain attacks. I did the PR for it, even.
Our release schedule is like a year though so we don’t really have to worry much about releasing compromised dependencies. But still, better to be on the safer side.
What about using pip just to download basic common libraries for offline use?
Don’t do it.
Because they could be changed or have something sneak in the library?
Yeah, without signature checking anything that you download could change to anything else.
That’s a remote code execution vuln.
Unfortunately I have to use node for home project (Jellyfin tizen)
I was wondering: would it be possible to run node in a sandbox to lower the scope of the attack? (i.e. not compromise my home computer) Or is maybe a full VM a better solution?
Wouldn’t verion pinning solve this problem?
In case of NPM version pinning is a good practice. But also set it to ignore post install scripts. They are a bad practice and only about 2 % of all packages use it so it is unlikely it will bother you. They, the post install scripts, were used in recent supply chain attacks btw (the axios). You can either set it project wide in .npmrc file, add
ignore-scripts=true, that is good for project where multiple people collaborate. And/Or system wide by runningnpm config set ignore-scripts truefor your personal workspace. You can also achieve it by using --ignore-scripts flag during npm install, but that is way too impractical to always think about it. Also I would recommend checking npq, its a wrapper around npm cli that will give you some security summary before installing anything (and it is able to give you warning about post install scripts).Wait, any package that I download via NPM could potentially have a script that will run unless I set it to false, when I install said package?
Yes, that is exactly how the axios supply chain attack worked… It ran post install script (on dependency) that downloaded malware, ran it and even cleaned it up. Everything on that machine was compromised… It can be any dependency of dependency too, deep down in the tree…
Technically you can use node without npm.
Jellyfin is available in apt
I need to build it, jellyfin-tizen is a separate project for Samsung TVs
I think you need to throw out the Samsung TV to be secure
Full VM and network isolation. and dont put anything important there (nor a reused password for auth)