Unpacking the NPM supply chain attacks with Feross Aboukhadijeh

Feross Aboukhadijeh, founder of Socket, joins us to break down the recent wave of NPM supply chain attacks hitting the JavaScript ecosystem, including how attackers used phishing to target developers, snuck malware into popular packages like Prettier and "is", and even abused tools like Claude, Gemini, and TruffleHog. We dig into how GitHub Actions vulnerabilities were exploited, what makes postinstall scripts risky, and and what you can do to protect yourself from future attacks. Links Website: https://feross.org X: https://x.com/feross GitHub: https://github.com/feross LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/feross YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHM4OEvQDUq8UszyUrdov-w Resources npm Author Qix Compromised via Phishing Email in Major Supply Chain Attack: https://socket.dev/blog/npm-author-qix-compromised-in-major-supply-chain-attack Compromised files replace npm packages with a combined 2 billion weekly downloads: https://www.techradar.com/pro/security/compromised-files-replace-npm-packages-with-a-combined-2-billion-weekly-downloads Shai-Hulud: Ongoing Package Supply Chain Worm Delivering Data-Stealing Malware: https://www.wiz.io/blog/shai-hulud-npm-supply-chain-attack Chapters 00:00 Intro: NPM supply chain attacks explained 01:10 What is a software supply chain attack? 02:00 NPM phishing campaign: Fake login pages 03:00 Prettier ecosystem compromised 04:00 The “is” package malware incident 05:30 NX package breach (August 27 attack) 06:40 AI-powered supply chain exploit 08:00 GitHub Actions misconfiguration 12:00 Lessons from recent NPM attacks 20:00 How malicious packages get published 25:00 Why install scripts are so risky 30:00 Limitations of banning install scripts 35:00 Open source maintainer challenges 40:00 Smarter approaches to dependency updates 44:00 The future of open source supply chain security 47:00 Closing thoughts and resources We want to hear from you! How did you find us? Did you see us on Twitter? In a newsletter? Or maybe we were recommended by a friend? Fill out our listener survey (https://t.co/oKVAEXipxu)! Let us know by sending an email to our producer, Elizabeth, at [e-mail] (mailto:[e-mail]), or tweet at us at PodRocketPod (https://twitter.com/PodRocketpod). Follow us. Get free stickers. Follow us on Apple Podcasts, fill out this form (https://podrocket.logrocket.com/get-podrocket-stickers), and we’ll send you free PodRocket stickers! What does LogRocket do? LogRocket provides AI-first session replay and analytics that surfaces the UX and technical issues impacting user experiences. Start understanding where your users are struggling by trying it for free at LogRocket.com. Try LogRocket for free today. (https://logrocket.com/signup/?pdr) Special Guest: Feross Aboukhadijeh.