Top issues
Detected presence of files with behaviors similar to malicious packages published on NPM.
Causes risk: suspicious application behaviors
hunting
Problem
Software components contain executable code that performs actions implemented during its development. These actions are called behaviors. In the analysis report, behaviors are presented as human-readable descriptions that best match the underlying code intent. Node Package Manager (NPM) repository is often abused by threat actors to publish software packages that exhibit malicious behaviors. Malware authors use numerous tactics to lure developers into including malicious NPM packages in their software projects. Most malicious packages published on NPM target developers and their workstations. However, some are designed to activate only when deployed in the end-user environment. Both types of NodeJS malicious packages are detected by proprietary ReversingLabs threat hunting algorithms. This detection method is considered proactive, and it is based on Machine Learning (ML) algorithms that can detect novel malware. The detection is strongly influenced by behaviors that software components exhibit. Behaviors similar to previously discovered malware and software supply chain attacks may cause some otherwise benign software packages to be detected by this policy.Prevalence in Visual Studio Code community
10 packages
found in
Top 100
69 packages
found in
Top 1k
311 packages
found in
Top 10k
1.86k packages
in community
Next steps
Investigate reported detections.
If the software intent does not relate to the reported behavior, investigate your build and release environment for software supply chain compromise.
You should delay the software release until the investigation is completed, or until the issue is risk accepted.
Consider rewriting the flagged code without using the marked behaviors.
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.Prevalence in Visual Studio Code community
79 packages
found in
Top 100
622 packages
found in
Top 1k
4233 packages
found in
Top 10k
29.36k packages
in community
Next steps
Investigate reported detections.
If the software should not include these network references, investigate your build and release environment for software supply chain compromise.
You should delay the software release until the investigation is completed, or until the issue is risk accepted.
Consider an alternative delivery mechanism for software packages.
Detected presence of software components that had a recent malware or tampering incident.
Causes risk: components with malware history
hunting
Problem
Software developers use programming and design knowledge to build reusable software components. Software components are the basic building blocks for modern applications. Software consumed by an enterprise consists of hundreds, and sometimes even thousands of open source components. Software developers publish components they have authored to public repositories. Some open source projects have a history of security lapses that culminated with a publication of one or more malicious component versions. To ensure that repeated supply chain incidents do not occur, the open source project should be closely monitored for up to two years. All software package versions that are published within two years of the malware incident will convey a warning about the history of security incidents tied to the open source project.Prevalence in Visual Studio Code community
25 packages
found in
Top 100
112 packages
found in
Top 1k
510 packages
found in
Top 10k
2.06k packages
in community
Next steps
Inspect behaviors exhibited by the detected software components.
If the software behaviors differ from expected, investigate the build and release environment for software supply chain compromise.
Revise the use of components that raise these alarms. If you can't deprecate those components, make sure that their versions are pinned.
Avoid using this software package until it is vetted as safe.
Detected presence of software components that had a recent package version removal incident.
hunting
Problem
Software developers use programming and design knowledge to build reusable software components. Software components are the basic building blocks for modern applications. Software consumed by an enterprise consists of hundreds, and sometimes even thousands of open source components. Software developers publish components they have authored to public repositories. Some open source repositories allow the developers to take down software component versions that they have published. For open source projects, version unpublishing is uncommon. Versions are typically removed due to a security incident, such as malicious code tampering or accidental development secrets exposure. Software developers often prioritize taking down such packages before informing the community that they have experienced a security incident. Therefore, it is prudent to review the reasons behind software version removals as these events might be a signal of an ongoing software supply chain attack.Prevalence in Visual Studio Code community
11 packages
found in
Top 100
39 packages
found in
Top 1k
152 packages
found in
Top 10k
1.25k packages
in community
Next steps
Review software component documentation for the reasons behind the recent version removal.
If the software version was removed due to a security incident, investigate the build and release environment for software supply chain compromise.
Revise the use of components that raise these alarms. If you can't deprecate those components, make sure that their versions are pinned.
Avoid using this software package until it is vetted as safe.
Detected presence of licenses that place restrictions on software distribution.
Causes risk: software distribution restrictions
licenses
Problem
Software license is a legal instrument that governs the use and distribution of software source code and its binary representation. Software publishers have the freedom to choose any commonly used or purposefully written license to publish their work under. While some licenses are liberal and allow almost any kind of distribution, with or without code modification, other licenses are more restrictive and impose rules for their inclusion in other software projects. Some software licenses place restrictions on software distribution of the code they apply to. These restrictions may extend to the services built upon the code licensed under such restrictive licenses. Some restrictive licenses explicitly state that the licensee may not provide the software to third parties as a hosted or managed service, where the service provides users with access to any substantial set of the features or functionality of the licensed software. When building commercial applications, this is typically undesirable. Therefore, the inclusion of any code that may impose limits on software distribution is commonly avoided or even prohibited by the organization policy.Prevalence in Visual Studio Code community
34 packages
found in
Top 100
245 packages
found in
Top 1k
1626 packages
found in
Top 10k
8.95k packages
in community
Next steps
Confirm that the software package references a component or a dependency with a restrictive license.
Consider replacing the software component with an alternative that offers a license compatible with organization policy.
Top behaviors
Modifies file/directory permissions.
permissions
Prevalence in Visual Studio Code community
Behavior often found in this community (Common)
67 packages
found in
Top 100
547 packages
found in
Top 1k
2891 packages
found in
Top 10k
14.99k packages
in community
Changes file ownership.
file
Prevalence in Visual Studio Code community
Behavior often found in this community (Common)
45 packages
found in
Top 100
315 packages
found in
Top 1k
1576 packages
found in
Top 10k
7.59k packages
in community
Might contain potentially obfuscated code or data.
anomaly
Prevalence in Visual Studio Code community
Behavior often found in this community (Common)
84 packages
found in
Top 100
679 packages
found in
Top 1k
4393 packages
found in
Top 10k
30.42k packages
in community
Encrypts data using RSA with a given public key.
packer
Prevalence in Visual Studio Code community
Behavior often found in this community (Common)
25 packages
found in
Top 100
203 packages
found in
Top 1k
712 packages
found in
Top 10k
3.46k packages
in community
Encrypts data using RSA with a given private key.
packer
Prevalence in Visual Studio Code community
Behavior often found in this community (Common)
18 packages
found in
Top 100
120 packages
found in
Top 1k
506 packages
found in
Top 10k
2.56k packages
in community
Top vulnerabilities
No vulnerabilities found.