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NPM debug and chalk packages compromised

(www.aikido.dev)
1369 points universesquid | 1 comments | 08 Sep 25 15:37 UTC | HN request time: 0s | source
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junon ◴[08 Sep 25 15:49 UTC] No.45169794[source]▶
Hi, yep I got pwned. Sorry everyone, very embarrassing.

More info:

- https://github.com/chalk/chalk/issues/656

- https://github.com/debug-js/debug/issues/1005#issuecomment-3...

Affected packages (at least the ones I know of):

- ansi-styles@6.2.2

- debug@4.4.2 (appears to have been yanked as of 8 Sep 18:09 CEST)

- chalk@5.6.1

- supports-color@10.2.1

- strip-ansi@7.1.1

- ansi-regex@6.2.1

- wrap-ansi@9.0.1

- color-convert@3.1.1

- color-name@2.0.1

- is-arrayish@0.3.3

- slice-ansi@7.1.1

- color@5.0.1

- color-string@2.1.1

- simple-swizzle@0.2.3

- supports-hyperlinks@4.1.1

- has-ansi@6.0.1

- chalk-template@1.1.1

- backslash@0.2.1

It looks and feels a bit like a targeted attack.

Will try to keep this comment updated as long as I can before the edit expires.

---

Chalk has been published over. The others remain compromised (8 Sep 17:50 CEST).

NPM has yet to get back to me. My NPM account is entirely unreachable; forgot password system does not work. I have no recourse right now but to wait.

Email came from support at npmjs dot help.

Looked legitimate at first glance. Not making excuses, just had a long week and a panicky morning and was just trying to knock something off my list of to-dos. Made the mistake of clicking the link instead of going directly to the site like I normally would (since I was mobile).

Just NPM is affected. Updates to be posted to the `/debug-js` link above.

Again, I'm so sorry.

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cataflam ◴[08 Sep 25 22:52 UTC] No.45175160[source]▶
Hey, you're doing an exemplary response, transparent and fast, in what must be a very stressful situation!

I figure you aren't about to get fooled by phishing anytime soon, but based on some of your remarks and remarks of others, a PSA:

TRUSTING YOUR OWN SENSES to "check" that a domain is right, or an email is right, or the wording has some urgency or whatever is BOUND TO FAIL often enough.

I don't understand how most of the anti-phishing advice focuses on that, it's useless to borderline counter-productive.

What really helps against phishing :

1. NEVER EVER login from an email link. EVER. There are enough legit and phishing emails asking you to do this that it's basically impossible to tell one from the other. The only way to win is to not try.

2. U2F/Webauthn key as second factor is phishing-proof. TOTP is not.

That is all there is. Any other method, any other "indicator" helps but is error-prone, which means someone somewhere will get phished eventually. Particularly if stressed, tired, or in a hurry. It just happened to be you this time.

Good luck and well done again on the response!

replies(2): >>45175512 #>>45186585 #
diggan ◴[08 Sep 25 23:33 UTC] No.45175512[source]▶
Or you know, get a password manager like the rest of us. If your password manager doesn't show the usual autofill, since the domain is different than it should, take a step back and validate everything before moving on.

Have the TOTP in the same/another password manager (after considering the tradeoffs) and that can also not be entered unless the domain is right :)

replies(3): >>45175932 #>>45176903 #>>45178323 #
SchemaLoad ◴[09 Sep 25 03:02 UTC] No.45176903[source]▶
I feel like it's extremely common for the autofill to not work for various reasons even when you aren't being phished. I have to manually select the site to fill fairly often, especially inside apps where the password manager doesn't seem to match the app to the website password.

Passkeys seem like the best solution here where you physically can not fall for a phishing attack.

replies(2): >>45178712 #>>45180068 #
diggan ◴[09 Sep 25 10:27 UTC] No.45180068[source]▶
> I feel like it's extremely common for the autofill to not work for various reasons even when you aren't being phished

I dunno, it mostly seems to not work when companies change their field names/IDs, or just 3rd party authentication, then you need to manually add domains. Otherwise my password manager (1Password) works everywhere where I have an account, except my previous bank which was stuck in the 90s and disallowed pasting the passwords. If you find that your password manager doesn't work with most websites (since it's "extremely common") you might want to look into a different one, even Firefox+Linux combo works extremely well with 1Password. Not affiliated, just a happy years+ user.

> Passkeys seem like the best solution here where you physically can not fall for a phishing attack.

Yeah, I've looked into Passkeys but without any migration strategy or import/export support (WIP last time I looked into it), it's not really an alternative just yet, at least for me personally. I have to be 100% sure I can move things when the time ultimately comes for that.

replies(2): >>45182811 #>>45190203 #
1. mdaniel ◴[09 Sep 25 14:57 UTC] No.45182811[source]▶
I'm glad you've had such good experience with autofill consistently working for you. My experience has been closer to that of the sibling comments: 60/40 so I often just give up and copy-paste. I actually did try jettisoning 1Password for Proton Pass but that was even worse, so I went back

> without any migration strategy or import/export support

Since you're already a 1Password user, I wanted to draw your attention to the "Show debugging tools" in the "Settings > Advanced" section. From that point, you can say "Copy Item JSON" and it will give you the details you would want for rescuing the Passkey. Importing it into something else is its own journey that I can't help with

  {
    "overview": {
      "passkey": {
        "credentialId": "...",
        "rpId": "example.com",
        "userHandle": "..."
      },
    ...
    "details": {
      "passkey": {
        "type": "webauthn",
        "createdAt": 175.......,
        "privateKey": "eyJ...",
        "userHandle": "..."
      }
I would guess their "op" CLI would allow similar, but I don't have the magic incantation to offer, whereas that Copy JSON is painless