Developers at Risk: Open VSX Registry Flaw Leaves Millions Vulnerable to Supply Chain Attacks
A hilarious oversight in the Open VSX Registry almost gave attackers the keys to the Visual Studio Code extensions kingdom, potentially endangering millions of developers with supply chain attacks. Who knew coding could be so dangerous? Remember, folks, never trust a platform that runs “npm install” on untrusted code!
Hot Take:
Looks like the Eclipse Foundation’s Open VSX Registry just threw a surprise party for cybersecurity enthusiasts, but instead of cake, they got a supply chain vulnerability with a side of panic! The registry’s flaw was the equivalent of leaving a key under the doormat labeled “Attackers Welcome.” Talk about a developer’s worst nightmare coming true—just when you thought it was safe to go back to coding!
Key Points:
- Critical vulnerability found in Open VSX Registry could allow attackers to hijack the entire VS Code extension hub.
- The flaw exposes a secret token (OVSX_PAT) that malicious actors could exploit to take over extensions.
- Vulnerability stems from a flaw in Open VSX’s auto-publishing process using GitHub Actions.
- MITRE added “IDE Extensions” to its ATT&CK framework, emphasizing the risk of extension-based attacks.
- Fixes were proposed and reviewed multiple times, with a final fix deployed on June 25, 2025.
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