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Comment by alexellisuk

3 months ago

How did simply opening this email in something like Gmail or a desktop client result in it being able to compromise NPM packages under your control?

I'm just curious - and as a word of warning to others so we can learn. I may be missing some details, I've read most of the comments on the page.

9 comments

alexellisuk

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junon  3 months ago

I clicked the link like a genius :)

  • osa1  3 months ago

    I don't understand. The link could've come from anywhere (for example from a HN comment). How does just clicking on it give your package credentials to someone else? Is NPM also at fault here? I'd naively think that this shouldn't be possible.

    For example, GitHub asks for 2FA when I change certain repo settings (or when deleting a repo etc.) even when I'm logged in. Maybe NPM needs to do the same?

    • dboreham  3 months ago

      OP entered their credentials and TOTP code, which the attacker proxied to the real npmjs.com

      FWIW npmjs does support FIDO2 including hard tokens like Yubikey.

      They do not force re-auth when issuing an access token with publish rights, which is probably how the attackers compromised the packages. iirc GitHub does force re-auth when you request an access token.

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