Malicious Go Package: A Software Supply Chain Attack
By Ravie Lakshmanan, February 4, 2025
A Threat to the Go Ecosystem
Cybersecurity researchers have sounded the alarm on a software supply chain attack targeting the Go ecosystem, which involves a malicious package capable of granting the adversary remote access to infected systems.
The Malicious Package
The package, named github.com/boltdb-go/bolt, is a typosquat of the legitimate BoltDB database module (github.com/boltdb/bolt), per Socket. The malicious version (1.3.1) was published to GitHub in November 2021, following which it was cached indefinitely by the Go Module Mirror service.
How the Attack Works
Once installed, the backdoored package grants the threat actor remote access to the infected system, allowing them to execute arbitrary commands. Security researcher Kirill Boychenko explained that the malicious package exploits the Go Module Mirror’s indefinite caching of modules to trick users into downloading the package. The attacker then modifies the Git tags in the source repository to redirect users to the benign version.
The Caching Mechanism
The Go Module Mirror’s caching mechanism means that unsuspecting developers installing the package using the go CLI continue to download the backdoored variant. Boychenko noted that once a module version is cached, it remains accessible through the Go Module Proxy, even if the original source is later modified.
The Threat
The development marks one of the earliest instances of a malicious actor abusing the Go Module Mirror’s caching to trick users into downloading the package. This deceptive approach ensures that a manual audit of the GitHub repository does not reveal any malicious content.
The Impact
The malicious package has the potential to persistently distribute malicious code despite subsequent changes to the repository. This highlights the importance of monitoring for attacks that leverage cached module versions to evade detection.
Conclusion
With immutable modules offering both security benefits and potential abuse vectors, developers and security teams should monitor for attacks that leverage cached module versions to evade detection. The development of malicious packages like this one serves as a reminder of the importance of staying vigilant in the software supply chain.
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