Software Supply Chain Attacks: Auditing Package Manager Dependencies

Most of the code in a modern application is not written in-house by the internal team. It is assembled from hundreds of open-source libraries pulled in through package managers like Composer or NPM. A vulnerability in one small library can put the entire system at risk.

Attackers often use typosquatting or take over the accounts of developers who have abandoned a library, injecting malicious scripts that steal server credentials and database access tokens.

The first mitigation step is to pin package versions with a lock file and always run automated vulnerability scanning in the continuous integration pipeline.

Restricting permissions in the execution environment and applying the principle of least privilege is the best defense against supply chain threats.