
Research
2025 Report: Destructive Malware in Open Source Packages
Destructive malware is rising across open source registries, using delays and kill switches to wipe code, break builds, and disrupt CI/CD.
Quickly evaluate the security and health of any open source package.
arubomber
2.0.2
Live on PyPI
Blocked by Socket
The code implements an SMS bombing tool designed to abuse public OTP/SMS endpoints to send repeated messages to target phone numbers. It is malicious/abusive by intent and likely illegal in many jurisdictions. Additional supply-chain risk exists due to remote fetching of a 'protected numbers' list, and the presence of hardcoded OAuth credentials is a sensitive secret leakage. Do not run this code; it poses high legal and security risk.
outwit.onehourappstore.loader
1.0.7
by Dmitry Ratner
Live on NuGet
Blocked by Socket
This module contains a native process loader which implements patterns consistent with process injection / process hollowing: creating a (likely suspended) process, allocating memory in it, writing an image (from a supplied byte[]), setting the thread context, and resuming execution. As written, ProcessManager.Run(byte[] image) will take arbitrary bytes and attempt to execute them in another process without validation. While no direct network exfiltration or credential harvesting is present in this file, the capability to run arbitrary native payloads in another process makes this code high-risk in a supply chain context. Only use this package if you expect and trust this behavior (e.g., a legitimate in-memory loader). Otherwise treat it as dangerous and consider removing or isolating it.
fsd
0.0.250
Removed from PyPI
Blocked by Socket
This module fragment is not overtly malicious (no direct backdoor or destructive actions) but embodies a high-risk data-exfiltration pattern: it sends full repository contents and user prompts to an external AI gateway without redaction, and logs/resends model outputs without strong validation. This creates substantial supply-chain and privacy risk (exposing secrets, intellectual property, or PII). Remediation: avoid sending raw repo contents to external services; implement strict redaction/allow-listing of files, filter secrets, minimize logging of prompts/responses, treat AIGateway as a high-sensitivity sink, and validate/sanitize model outputs before use.
Live on PyPI for 6 days, 1 hour and 56 minutes before removal. Socket users were protected even while the package was live.
mtmai
0.3.1143
Live on PyPI
Blocked by Socket
The code exposes powerful administrative actions: arbitrary shell execution, arbitrary file reads, full environment dumps, and building/pushing Docker images to a hardcoded registry. These are not obfuscated but are high-risk capabilities that can be abused for data exfiltration, remote code execution, and supply-chain leakage if the superuser authentication is compromised or misconfigured. The presence of a hardcoded remote image name for docker push is suspicious for unintended outbound artifact exfiltration. Recommendation: avoid including these endpoints in public packages or ensure strict, auditable authentication and input validation; remove hardcoded push targets and avoid returning full environment variables or arbitrary file contents.
globalize-bundle
1.0.0
by mike-bug-hunter
Removed from npm
Blocked by Socket
The script collects information like hostname, IP addresses, system path, public IP, username, and package name and sends it to a remote server (monkfish-app-brmld.ondigitalocean.app).
Live on npm for 5 minutes before removal. Socket users were protected even while the package was live.
mcp-proxy-execute
0.1.0
Removed from PyPI
Blocked by Socket
The code is a cross-server tool orchestrator with nested invocation support. The primary security risk stems from evaluating transform expressions via eval, which could enable arbitrary code execution if untrusted inputs are supplied. While there are safeguards (identifier checks, limited builtins), the approach remains risky for open-source or supply chain contexts. The incomplete main block hints at potential syntax issues or truncation. Overall, moderate risk with a notable high-risk vector (transform expression evaluation) that warrants safer evaluation or formal sandboxing before deployment.
Live on PyPI for 3 hours and 19 minutes before removal. Socket users were protected even while the package was live.
angry-apes--nft-collection552
1.0.2
by robowxw
Removed from npm
Blocked by Socket
The code poses a significant security risk and should be reviewed. It is recommended to remove unnecessary imports, verify the contents of the data folder and the WordPress websites before proceeding, and avoid using hardcoded credentials for WordPress login.
pinokiod
1.1.10
by cocktailpeanut
Live on npm
Blocked by Socket
The SweetAlert2 library code is mostly benign and serves as a UI modal dialog tool. However, it contains a suspicious and potentially malicious snippet that targets Russian users on certain domains to play an unsolicited audio prank, disabling pointer events and potentially disrupting user interaction. This behavior is unexpected and should be considered a moderate security risk and potential malware. The rest of the code shows no signs of malicious intent. The provided reports were invalid and unhelpful. Users should be cautious about this version of the library due to the embedded prank behavior.
rev0001q1
1.0.0
Live on PyPI
Blocked by Socket
This code implements a classic reverse shell/backdoor: it connects to a hardcoded remote IP:port, redirects standard IO to the network socket, disables bash history, and spawns an interactive bash shell via pty.spawn. The snippet enables remote arbitrary command execution and should be treated as malicious. Do not execute or include this code in trusted software; treat any package containing it as compromised and remove or remediate immediately.
mtmai
0.3.1250
Live on PyPI
Blocked by Socket
This module is an automation/scraping worker that intentionally executes code provided by task descriptions. That design requires trusting the task source. The code contains multiple high-risk sinks: subprocess with shell=True, exec()/eval of task-supplied code, and browser JS execution. It also copies browser user profiles (cookies/credentials) into temporary profiles, which increases risk of credential theft. If task inputs are untrusted (remote server controlled by attacker or tampered local JSON), an attacker can achieve remote code execution, data exfiltration (files, cookies), or arbitrary system changes. Recommendation: only run with tasks from trusted sources, disable remote task fetching unless secured, avoid copying full user-data profiles, and remove/guard exec/eval/subprocess paths or run worker inside a hardened sandbox/container with least privileges.
jz-test-npm
114.5.14
by locksmith114
Live on npm
Blocked by Socket
This file is malicious. It collects sensitive local system and environment information and exfiltrates it to a hardcoded remote server, and — more critically — contains and by default enables a reverse shell mechanism that will create a TCP-connected interactive shell to a remote host. The use of backgrounded detached shell execution and mild obfuscation increases the risk. Do not run this script on any system; treat any package containing it as compromised and remove it from your environment. Immediate remediation: isolate affected hosts, terminate processes spawned by this script, rotate any secrets that may have been exposed, and block the listed remote IP and ports.
mpesa-backoffice-frontend
2.99.99
by detoz123
Live on npm
Blocked by Socket
This module harvests sensitive local environment and package metadata including username, home directory, hostname, DNS servers, module directory path, and complete package.json contents. The collected data is automatically exfiltrated via HTTPS POST request to a hardcoded external domain d2os8ntsvpatcif1pgkgqrxy7ite8iqni[.]oast[.]live without user consent or notification. The target domain uses the oast[.]live TLD which is commonly associated with out-of-band interaction testing services (OAST/Interactsh/Burp Collaborator) typically used for covert data exfiltration. The module executes this data collection immediately upon loading with suppressed error handling to reduce detection visibility. This constitutes unauthorized data exfiltration and represents a significant supply-chain security risk that could enable targeted attacks, system fingerprinting, or credential harvesting from exposed package metadata.
mtmai
0.3.1507
Live on PyPI
Blocked by Socket
The code exposes powerful administrative actions: arbitrary shell execution, arbitrary file reads, full environment dumps, and building/pushing Docker images to a hardcoded registry. These are not obfuscated but are high-risk capabilities that can be abused for data exfiltration, remote code execution, and supply-chain leakage if the superuser authentication is compromised or misconfigured. The presence of a hardcoded remote image name for docker push is suspicious for unintended outbound artifact exfiltration. Recommendation: avoid including these endpoints in public packages or ensure strict, auditable authentication and input validation; remove hardcoded push targets and avoid returning full environment variables or arbitrary file contents.
mtxai
0.0.141
Live on PyPI
Blocked by Socket
This fragment intends to install and start KasmVNC by running many shell commands that create certs, write VNC password files, adjust group membership, and launch a VNC server. The primary security issues are unsafe shell interpolation (command injection risk), programmatic persistence of a possibly predictable password, execution with sudo based on unvalidated env vars, starting a VNC server exposed on 0.0.0.0 with disabled/basic auth, and multiple unsafe filesystem operations performed via shell. There is no clear evidence of obfuscated or direct exfiltration malware, but the behavior can provide an unauthorized remote access vector (backdoor-like) if used maliciously. Do not run this code without fixing shell usage, validating inputs, using secure randomly generated passwords, enforcing proper file permissions, and not disabling authentication.
datetime-zones
2.3.9
Live on PyPI
Blocked by Socket
This file implements a one-time backdoor that scans environment variables whose names contain “tok” (case-insensitive), base64-encodes their values, and sends them in a JSON POST to a hard-coded Discord webhook. The webhook URL is stored as a base64 literal and decodes to https://discord[.]com/api/webhooks/1414549488915185765/fS4eVw4E1Rue1cFSGAmtuIjzM96xkcMb_PS9LYc5Jvtdy93zEkbTAoLNV4ol5yHQGvUy. The payload embeds the encoded data in a Markdown code block, uses a fake User-Agent (“Mozilla/5.0”), and silently suppresses all exceptions. This covert exfiltration of tokens/credentials poses a high risk to confidentiality and supply-chain integrity.
ka-uts-wdp
4.1.0.250601
Live on PyPI
Blocked by Socket
The fragment implements a file-system watcher that can execute arbitrary external scripts in response to file events. This is inherently risky: if the input scripts or monitored directories are compromised or misconfigured, this can lead to arbitrarily executing code on the host. The main risk is the direct invocation of os.system on externally supplied script paths without validation or restriction. This constitutes a potential backdoor-like capability and a significant supply-chain/runtime risk if the package is used in untrusted environments.
sha-rust
0.1.2
Live on crates.io
Blocked by Socket
This module performs covert collection and exfiltration of sensitive files from the user's HOME directory to a remote HTTP endpoint. The use of base64-encoded literals to hide both the target filenames and the remote URL, recursive silent scanning, direct reading of file contents, and immediate transmission to the remote server constitute malicious behavior. Treat this code as a high-risk backdoor/data-exfiltration component and do not run or trust packages containing it.
feedback-utils
1.999.999
Removed from npm
Blocked by Socket
The code uses the exec function to run shell commands, which poses a significant security risk. It could potentially execute malicious code if the input to exec is manipulated. Redirecting output to /dev/null to hide execution details is suspicious.
Live on npm for 15 minutes before removal. Socket users were protected even while the package was live.
sap-abstract
1.4.4
by abdallaeg2
Removed from npm
Blocked by Socket
The code is designed to send sensitive system information to a remote server, which is a significant security risk. This behavior is consistent with malicious activity, specifically data exfiltration.
Live on npm for 52 minutes before removal. Socket users were protected even while the package was live.
vk-spammer
1.2.2.9
Live on PyPI
Blocked by Socket
This module is a tool designed to perform unsolicited automated messaging on VK — effectively a spamming tool. It contains behaviors that facilitate abuse (automatic message sending, bypassing captchas, optional saving of plaintext credentials). It is malicious in intent from an abuse perspective and should not be used in legitimate projects. There is no hidden obfuscation or stealthy backdoor beyond the intended spam functionality, but credential storage and anti-captcha integration increase the severity of its abuse potential.
carbon-for-ibm-cloud
0.1.0
by charles.miles.orlando
Removed from npm
Blocked by Socket
The code contains a significant security risk due to the use of eval() with untrusted input, and it should be considered a security threat.
Live on npm for 1 hour and 27 minutes before removal. Socket users were protected even while the package was live.
trello-enterprises
1000.1000.1000
by trello-x
Live on npm
Blocked by Socket
The script collects information like hostname, username, home directory, and current working directory and sends it to a remote server. While the author claims it is for bug bounty purposes, this behavior can still pose a privacy risk. The script also contains a blocking operation that can cause performance issues or unresponsiveness.
bffhfuruhejfhdj
3.3.0
by testiui78777
Removed from npm
Blocked by Socket
The code is designed to establish a reverse shell, which is a severe security risk as it allows unauthorized remote access to the system. This is a clear indicator of malicious intent.
Live on npm for 42 days, 22 hours and 36 minutes before removal. Socket users were protected even while the package was live.
arubomber
2.0.2
Live on PyPI
Blocked by Socket
The code implements an SMS bombing tool designed to abuse public OTP/SMS endpoints to send repeated messages to target phone numbers. It is malicious/abusive by intent and likely illegal in many jurisdictions. Additional supply-chain risk exists due to remote fetching of a 'protected numbers' list, and the presence of hardcoded OAuth credentials is a sensitive secret leakage. Do not run this code; it poses high legal and security risk.
outwit.onehourappstore.loader
1.0.7
by Dmitry Ratner
Live on NuGet
Blocked by Socket
This module contains a native process loader which implements patterns consistent with process injection / process hollowing: creating a (likely suspended) process, allocating memory in it, writing an image (from a supplied byte[]), setting the thread context, and resuming execution. As written, ProcessManager.Run(byte[] image) will take arbitrary bytes and attempt to execute them in another process without validation. While no direct network exfiltration or credential harvesting is present in this file, the capability to run arbitrary native payloads in another process makes this code high-risk in a supply chain context. Only use this package if you expect and trust this behavior (e.g., a legitimate in-memory loader). Otherwise treat it as dangerous and consider removing or isolating it.
fsd
0.0.250
Removed from PyPI
Blocked by Socket
This module fragment is not overtly malicious (no direct backdoor or destructive actions) but embodies a high-risk data-exfiltration pattern: it sends full repository contents and user prompts to an external AI gateway without redaction, and logs/resends model outputs without strong validation. This creates substantial supply-chain and privacy risk (exposing secrets, intellectual property, or PII). Remediation: avoid sending raw repo contents to external services; implement strict redaction/allow-listing of files, filter secrets, minimize logging of prompts/responses, treat AIGateway as a high-sensitivity sink, and validate/sanitize model outputs before use.
Live on PyPI for 6 days, 1 hour and 56 minutes before removal. Socket users were protected even while the package was live.
mtmai
0.3.1143
Live on PyPI
Blocked by Socket
The code exposes powerful administrative actions: arbitrary shell execution, arbitrary file reads, full environment dumps, and building/pushing Docker images to a hardcoded registry. These are not obfuscated but are high-risk capabilities that can be abused for data exfiltration, remote code execution, and supply-chain leakage if the superuser authentication is compromised or misconfigured. The presence of a hardcoded remote image name for docker push is suspicious for unintended outbound artifact exfiltration. Recommendation: avoid including these endpoints in public packages or ensure strict, auditable authentication and input validation; remove hardcoded push targets and avoid returning full environment variables or arbitrary file contents.
globalize-bundle
1.0.0
by mike-bug-hunter
Removed from npm
Blocked by Socket
The script collects information like hostname, IP addresses, system path, public IP, username, and package name and sends it to a remote server (monkfish-app-brmld.ondigitalocean.app).
Live on npm for 5 minutes before removal. Socket users were protected even while the package was live.
mcp-proxy-execute
0.1.0
Removed from PyPI
Blocked by Socket
The code is a cross-server tool orchestrator with nested invocation support. The primary security risk stems from evaluating transform expressions via eval, which could enable arbitrary code execution if untrusted inputs are supplied. While there are safeguards (identifier checks, limited builtins), the approach remains risky for open-source or supply chain contexts. The incomplete main block hints at potential syntax issues or truncation. Overall, moderate risk with a notable high-risk vector (transform expression evaluation) that warrants safer evaluation or formal sandboxing before deployment.
Live on PyPI for 3 hours and 19 minutes before removal. Socket users were protected even while the package was live.
angry-apes--nft-collection552
1.0.2
by robowxw
Removed from npm
Blocked by Socket
The code poses a significant security risk and should be reviewed. It is recommended to remove unnecessary imports, verify the contents of the data folder and the WordPress websites before proceeding, and avoid using hardcoded credentials for WordPress login.
pinokiod
1.1.10
by cocktailpeanut
Live on npm
Blocked by Socket
The SweetAlert2 library code is mostly benign and serves as a UI modal dialog tool. However, it contains a suspicious and potentially malicious snippet that targets Russian users on certain domains to play an unsolicited audio prank, disabling pointer events and potentially disrupting user interaction. This behavior is unexpected and should be considered a moderate security risk and potential malware. The rest of the code shows no signs of malicious intent. The provided reports were invalid and unhelpful. Users should be cautious about this version of the library due to the embedded prank behavior.
rev0001q1
1.0.0
Live on PyPI
Blocked by Socket
This code implements a classic reverse shell/backdoor: it connects to a hardcoded remote IP:port, redirects standard IO to the network socket, disables bash history, and spawns an interactive bash shell via pty.spawn. The snippet enables remote arbitrary command execution and should be treated as malicious. Do not execute or include this code in trusted software; treat any package containing it as compromised and remove or remediate immediately.
mtmai
0.3.1250
Live on PyPI
Blocked by Socket
This module is an automation/scraping worker that intentionally executes code provided by task descriptions. That design requires trusting the task source. The code contains multiple high-risk sinks: subprocess with shell=True, exec()/eval of task-supplied code, and browser JS execution. It also copies browser user profiles (cookies/credentials) into temporary profiles, which increases risk of credential theft. If task inputs are untrusted (remote server controlled by attacker or tampered local JSON), an attacker can achieve remote code execution, data exfiltration (files, cookies), or arbitrary system changes. Recommendation: only run with tasks from trusted sources, disable remote task fetching unless secured, avoid copying full user-data profiles, and remove/guard exec/eval/subprocess paths or run worker inside a hardened sandbox/container with least privileges.
jz-test-npm
114.5.14
by locksmith114
Live on npm
Blocked by Socket
This file is malicious. It collects sensitive local system and environment information and exfiltrates it to a hardcoded remote server, and — more critically — contains and by default enables a reverse shell mechanism that will create a TCP-connected interactive shell to a remote host. The use of backgrounded detached shell execution and mild obfuscation increases the risk. Do not run this script on any system; treat any package containing it as compromised and remove it from your environment. Immediate remediation: isolate affected hosts, terminate processes spawned by this script, rotate any secrets that may have been exposed, and block the listed remote IP and ports.
mpesa-backoffice-frontend
2.99.99
by detoz123
Live on npm
Blocked by Socket
This module harvests sensitive local environment and package metadata including username, home directory, hostname, DNS servers, module directory path, and complete package.json contents. The collected data is automatically exfiltrated via HTTPS POST request to a hardcoded external domain d2os8ntsvpatcif1pgkgqrxy7ite8iqni[.]oast[.]live without user consent or notification. The target domain uses the oast[.]live TLD which is commonly associated with out-of-band interaction testing services (OAST/Interactsh/Burp Collaborator) typically used for covert data exfiltration. The module executes this data collection immediately upon loading with suppressed error handling to reduce detection visibility. This constitutes unauthorized data exfiltration and represents a significant supply-chain security risk that could enable targeted attacks, system fingerprinting, or credential harvesting from exposed package metadata.
mtmai
0.3.1507
Live on PyPI
Blocked by Socket
The code exposes powerful administrative actions: arbitrary shell execution, arbitrary file reads, full environment dumps, and building/pushing Docker images to a hardcoded registry. These are not obfuscated but are high-risk capabilities that can be abused for data exfiltration, remote code execution, and supply-chain leakage if the superuser authentication is compromised or misconfigured. The presence of a hardcoded remote image name for docker push is suspicious for unintended outbound artifact exfiltration. Recommendation: avoid including these endpoints in public packages or ensure strict, auditable authentication and input validation; remove hardcoded push targets and avoid returning full environment variables or arbitrary file contents.
mtxai
0.0.141
Live on PyPI
Blocked by Socket
This fragment intends to install and start KasmVNC by running many shell commands that create certs, write VNC password files, adjust group membership, and launch a VNC server. The primary security issues are unsafe shell interpolation (command injection risk), programmatic persistence of a possibly predictable password, execution with sudo based on unvalidated env vars, starting a VNC server exposed on 0.0.0.0 with disabled/basic auth, and multiple unsafe filesystem operations performed via shell. There is no clear evidence of obfuscated or direct exfiltration malware, but the behavior can provide an unauthorized remote access vector (backdoor-like) if used maliciously. Do not run this code without fixing shell usage, validating inputs, using secure randomly generated passwords, enforcing proper file permissions, and not disabling authentication.
datetime-zones
2.3.9
Live on PyPI
Blocked by Socket
This file implements a one-time backdoor that scans environment variables whose names contain “tok” (case-insensitive), base64-encodes their values, and sends them in a JSON POST to a hard-coded Discord webhook. The webhook URL is stored as a base64 literal and decodes to https://discord[.]com/api/webhooks/1414549488915185765/fS4eVw4E1Rue1cFSGAmtuIjzM96xkcMb_PS9LYc5Jvtdy93zEkbTAoLNV4ol5yHQGvUy. The payload embeds the encoded data in a Markdown code block, uses a fake User-Agent (“Mozilla/5.0”), and silently suppresses all exceptions. This covert exfiltration of tokens/credentials poses a high risk to confidentiality and supply-chain integrity.
ka-uts-wdp
4.1.0.250601
Live on PyPI
Blocked by Socket
The fragment implements a file-system watcher that can execute arbitrary external scripts in response to file events. This is inherently risky: if the input scripts or monitored directories are compromised or misconfigured, this can lead to arbitrarily executing code on the host. The main risk is the direct invocation of os.system on externally supplied script paths without validation or restriction. This constitutes a potential backdoor-like capability and a significant supply-chain/runtime risk if the package is used in untrusted environments.
sha-rust
0.1.2
Live on crates.io
Blocked by Socket
This module performs covert collection and exfiltration of sensitive files from the user's HOME directory to a remote HTTP endpoint. The use of base64-encoded literals to hide both the target filenames and the remote URL, recursive silent scanning, direct reading of file contents, and immediate transmission to the remote server constitute malicious behavior. Treat this code as a high-risk backdoor/data-exfiltration component and do not run or trust packages containing it.
feedback-utils
1.999.999
Removed from npm
Blocked by Socket
The code uses the exec function to run shell commands, which poses a significant security risk. It could potentially execute malicious code if the input to exec is manipulated. Redirecting output to /dev/null to hide execution details is suspicious.
Live on npm for 15 minutes before removal. Socket users were protected even while the package was live.
sap-abstract
1.4.4
by abdallaeg2
Removed from npm
Blocked by Socket
The code is designed to send sensitive system information to a remote server, which is a significant security risk. This behavior is consistent with malicious activity, specifically data exfiltration.
Live on npm for 52 minutes before removal. Socket users were protected even while the package was live.
vk-spammer
1.2.2.9
Live on PyPI
Blocked by Socket
This module is a tool designed to perform unsolicited automated messaging on VK — effectively a spamming tool. It contains behaviors that facilitate abuse (automatic message sending, bypassing captchas, optional saving of plaintext credentials). It is malicious in intent from an abuse perspective and should not be used in legitimate projects. There is no hidden obfuscation or stealthy backdoor beyond the intended spam functionality, but credential storage and anti-captcha integration increase the severity of its abuse potential.
carbon-for-ibm-cloud
0.1.0
by charles.miles.orlando
Removed from npm
Blocked by Socket
The code contains a significant security risk due to the use of eval() with untrusted input, and it should be considered a security threat.
Live on npm for 1 hour and 27 minutes before removal. Socket users were protected even while the package was live.
trello-enterprises
1000.1000.1000
by trello-x
Live on npm
Blocked by Socket
The script collects information like hostname, username, home directory, and current working directory and sends it to a remote server. While the author claims it is for bug bounty purposes, this behavior can still pose a privacy risk. The script also contains a blocking operation that can cause performance issues or unresponsiveness.
bffhfuruhejfhdj
3.3.0
by testiui78777
Removed from npm
Blocked by Socket
The code is designed to establish a reverse shell, which is a severe security risk as it allows unauthorized remote access to the system. This is a clear indicator of malicious intent.
Live on npm for 42 days, 22 hours and 36 minutes before removal. Socket users were protected even while the package was live.
Socket detects traditional vulnerabilities (CVEs) but goes beyond that to scan the actual code of dependencies for malicious behavior. It proactively detects and blocks 70+ signals of supply chain risk in open source code, for comprehensive protection.
Possible typosquat attack
Known malware
Suspicious Stars on GitHub
HTTP dependency
Git dependency
GitHub dependency
AI-detected potential malware
Obfuscated code
Telemetry
Protestware or potentially unwanted behavior
Critical CVE
High CVE
Medium CVE
Low CVE
Unpopular package
Minified code
Bad dependency semver
Wildcard dependency
Socket optimized override available
Deprecated
Unmaintained
License Policy Violation
Explicitly Unlicensed Item
Misc. License Issues
Copyleft License
No License Found
Ambiguous License Classifier
License exception
Non-permissive License
Unidentified License
Socket detects and blocks malicious dependencies, often within just minutes of them being published to public registries, making it the most effective tool for blocking zero-day supply chain attacks.
Socket is built by a team of prolific open source maintainers whose software is downloaded over 1 billion times per month. We understand how to build tools that developers love. But don’t take our word for it.

Nat Friedman
CEO at GitHub

Suz Hinton
Senior Software Engineer at Stripe
heck yes this is awesome!!! Congrats team 🎉👏

Matteo Collina
Node.js maintainer, Fastify lead maintainer
So awesome to see @SocketSecurity launch with a fresh approach! Excited to have supported the team from the early days.

DC Posch
Director of Technology at AppFolio, CTO at Dynasty
This is going to be super important, especially for crypto projects where a compromised dependency results in stolen user assets.

Luis Naranjo
Software Engineer at Microsoft
If software supply chain attacks through npm don't scare the shit out of you, you're not paying close enough attention.
@SocketSecurity sounds like an awesome product. I'll be using socket.dev instead of npmjs.org to browse npm packages going forward

Elena Nadolinski
Founder and CEO at Iron Fish
Huge congrats to @SocketSecurity! 🙌
Literally the only product that proactively detects signs of JS compromised packages.

Joe Previte
Engineering Team Lead at Coder
Congrats to @feross and the @SocketSecurity team on their seed funding! 🚀 It's been a big help for us at @CoderHQ and we appreciate what y'all are doing!

Josh Goldberg
Staff Developer at Codecademy
This is such a great idea & looks fantastic, congrats & good luck @feross + team!
The best security teams in the world use Socket to get visibility into supply chain risk, and to build a security feedback loop into the development process.

Scott Roberts
CISO at UiPath
As a happy Socket customer, I've been impressed with how quickly they are adding value to the product, this move is a great step!

Yan Zhu
Head of Security at Brave, DEFCON, EFF, W3C
glad to hear some of the smartest people i know are working on (npm, etc.) supply chain security finally :). @SocketSecurity

Andrew Peterson
CEO and Co-Founder at Signal Sciences (acq. Fastly)
How do you track the validity of open source software libraries as they get updated? You're prob not. Check out @SocketSecurity and the updated tooling they launched.
Supply chain is a cluster in security as we all know and the tools from Socket are "duh" type tools to be implementing. Check them out and follow Feross Aboukhadijeh to see more updates coming from them in the future.

Zbyszek Tenerowicz
Senior Security Engineer at ConsenSys
socket.dev is getting more appealing by the hour

Devdatta Akhawe
Head of Security at Figma
The @SocketSecurity team is on fire! Amazing progress and I am exciting to see where they go next.

Sebastian Bensusan
Engineer Manager at Stripe
I find it surprising that we don't have _more_ supply chain attacks in software:
Imagine your airplane (the code running) was assembled (deployed) daily, with parts (dependencies) from internet strangers. How long until you get a bad part?
Excited for Socket to prevent this

Adam Baldwin
VP of Security at npm, Red Team at Auth0/Okta
Congrats to everyone at @SocketSecurity ❤️🤘🏻

Nico Waisman
CISO at Lyft
This is an area that I have personally been very focused on. As Nat Friedman said in the 2019 GitHub Universe keynote, Open Source won, and every time you add a new open source project you rely on someone else code and you rely on the people that build it.
This is both exciting and problematic. You are bringing real risk into your organization, and I'm excited to see progress in the industry from OpenSSF scorecards and package analyzers to the company that Feross Aboukhadijeh is building!
Depend on Socket to prevent malicious open source dependencies from infiltrating your app.
Install the Socket GitHub App in just 2 clicks and get protected today.
Block 70+ issues in open source code, including malware, typo-squatting, hidden code, misleading packages, permission creep, and more.
Reduce work by surfacing actionable security information directly in GitHub. Empower developers to make better decisions.
Attackers have taken notice of the opportunity to attack organizations through open source dependencies. Supply chain attacks rose a whopping 700% in the past year, with over 15,000 recorded attacks.
Nov 23, 2025
Shai Hulud v2
Shai Hulud v2 campaign: preinstall script (setup_bun.js) and loader (setup_bin.js) that installs/locates Bun and executes an obfuscated bundled malicious script (bun_environment.js) with suppressed output.
Nov 05, 2025
Elves on npm
A surge of auto-generated "elf-stats" npm packages is being published every two minutes from new accounts. These packages contain simple malware variants and are being rapidly removed by npm. At least 420 unique packages have been identified, often described as being generated every two minutes, with some mentioning a capture the flag challenge or test.
Jul 04, 2025
RubyGems Automation-Tool Infostealer
Since at least March 2023, a threat actor using multiple aliases uploaded 60 malicious gems to RubyGems that masquerade as automation tools (Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, Telegram, WordPress, and Naver). The gems display a Korean Glimmer-DSL-LibUI login window, then exfiltrate the entered username/password and the host's MAC address via HTTP POST to threat actor-controlled infrastructure.
Mar 13, 2025
North Korea's Contagious Interview Campaign
Since late 2024, we have tracked hundreds of malicious npm packages and supporting infrastructure tied to North Korea's Contagious Interview operation, with tens of thousands of downloads targeting developers and tech job seekers. The threat actors run a factory-style playbook: recruiter lures and fake coding tests, polished GitHub templates, and typosquatted or deceptive dependencies that install or import into real projects.
Jul 23, 2024
Network Reconnaissance Campaign
A malicious npm supply chain attack that leveraged 60 packages across three disposable npm accounts to fingerprint developer workstations and CI/CD servers during installation. Each package embedded a compact postinstall script that collected hostnames, internal and external IP addresses, DNS resolvers, usernames, home and working directories, and package metadata, then exfiltrated this data as a JSON blob to a hardcoded Discord webhook.
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A five-month operation turned 27 npm packages into durable hosting for browser-run lures that mimic document-sharing portals and Microsoft sign-in, targeting 25 organizations across manufacturing, industrial automation, plastics, and healthcare for credential theft.