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Problem

Uniform Resource Locators (URLs) are structured addresses that point to locations and assets on the internet. URLs allow software developers to build complex applications that exchange data with servers that can be hosted in multiple geographical regions. URLs can commonly be found embedded in documentation, configuration files, source code and compiled binaries. One or more embedded URLs were discovered to link to raw files hosted on GitHub. Attackers often abuse popular web services to host malicious payloads. Since code-sharing services URLs are typically allowed by security solutions, using them for payload delivery increases the odds that the malicious code will reach the user. While the presence of code-sharing service locations does not imply malicious intent, all of their uses in a software package should be documented and approved. An increasing number of software supply chain attacks in the open source space leverages the GitHub service to deliver malicious payloads.

Problem

Uniform Resource Locators (URLs) are structured addresses that point to locations and assets on the internet. URLs allow software developers to build complex applications that exchange data with servers that can be hosted in multiple geographical regions. URLs can commonly be found embedded in documentation, configuration files, source code and compiled binaries. Paste-and-share services are websites that allow their users to easily share code snippets and simple plain text documents. Users typically do not need to be registered on the website to publish and access shared information. For this reason, paste-and-share services are commonly used by malicious actors to deliver stages of their malware payloads. Many software supply chain attacks in the open source space leverage paste-and-share services to deliver malicious payloads. Presence of paste-and-share service references does not imply malicious intent. Software developers commonly include links to such services as documentation for various issues they encounter while writing and maintaining code bases.