A repository search shows 2.2K repos with the text "A Mini Shai-Hulud has Appeared", all created within the past day:
https://github.com/search?q=A%20Mini%20Shai-Hulud%20has%20Ap...
A repository search shows 2.2K repos with the text "A Mini Shai-Hulud has Appeared", all created within the past day:
https://github.com/search?q=A%20Mini%20Shai-Hulud%20has%20Ap...
The repository names all look like two terms/words from dune (harkonen, mentat, ornithoptor, etc.) followed by a number. This would indicate that the account (possibly GitHub auth/actions token) has been compromised and then used to create the repository.
https://github.com/tinin46
this account seems to store a lot of keys, not sure what theyre for
Why can't GitHub get on the case and just block any repo where the README matches the regex? I thought they'd have learned their lesson the last time it happened.
This malware isn't even trying. Then again it's Microsoft so they're not even trying either.
6 minutes later an HN submission "GitHub blocks your account if you mention X in the README" with a top comment "This is absurd, are they just doing regex matching to check for malware?"
1. This happened less than 24 hours ago.
2. This is just one of the four techniques the worm uses to phone home.
“Some people, when confronted with a problem, think ‘I know, I’ll use regular expressions.’ Now they have two problems.”
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what's this all about?
Malware uploading the credentials it managed to steal
FTFA
> The attack steals credentials, authentication tokens, environment variables, and cloud secrets, while also attempting to poison GitHub repositories.
That doesn't really explain why there is a bunch of GitHub repos created as well.
If I remember correctly from Shai-Hulud 2, the attacker extricated creds by posting them in public github repos with minor easily reversible encryption. I believe it was double b64 last time.
I'm assuming the logic there is that every security researcher and company is going to pull and scan those creds for their stuff and their clients' stuff. So the attacker is just 1 of N people downloading it. As opposed to trying to send it to their own machine directly.
I think it's more about convenience and bypassing filters - developers are already logged in to github, already have access to create repos and publish code, firewalls will allow it. Even fancy HIDS systems will think the git push is rather normal.
If they have a clue, the attacker still will not download that without using a botnet tunnel or Tor at a minimum.
Note though that these credentials aren't even encrypted using some lightweight ECC to prevent others from capturing them, they're posted in cleartext. Embarassment might be part of the point.
With HN ettiquette in mind, I must make an exception: this is a case where skimming the first parts of the article would help a lot!
The public repo path is just one of four parallel paths, with the goal of getting around any barriers:
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