An adversary spoofs open-source software metadata in an attempt to masquerade malicious software as popular, maintained, and trusted.

Prerequisites

Identification of a popular open-source component whose metadata is to be spoofed.

Skills Required

Ability to spoof a variety of software metadata to convince victims the source is trusted.

Mitigations

Before downloading open-source software, perform precursory metadata checks to determine the author(s), frequency of updates, when the software was last updated, and if the software is widely leveraged.
Within package managers, look for conflicting or non-unique repository references to determine if multiple packages share the same repository reference.
Reference vulnerability databases to determine if the software contains known vulnerabilities.
Only download open-source software from reputable hosting sites or package managers.
Only download open-source software that has been adequately signed by the developer(s). For repository commits/tags, look for the "Verified" status and for developers leveraging "Vigilant Mode" (GitHub) or similar modes.
After downloading open-source software, ensure integrity values have not changed.
Before executing or incorporating the software, leverage automated testing techniques (e.g., static and dynamic analysis) to determine if the software behaves maliciously.

Related Weaknesses

Submission