CVE-2025-10894: 
JavaScript vulnerability analysis and mitigation

A critical supply chain attack affected the Nx build system package and several related plugins published to the npm registry. The vulnerability (CVE-2025-10894) was discovered on August 26, 2025, when malicious code was inserted into multiple versions of the package. The affected versions include nx (20.9.0-20.12.0, 21.5.0-21.8.0), @nx/devkit (21.5.0, 20.9.0), @nx/enterprise-cloud (3.2.0), @nx/eslint (21.5.0), @nx/js (21.5.0, 20.9.0), @nx/key (3.2.0), @nx/node (21.5.0, 20.9.0), and @nx/workspace (21.5.0, 20.9.0) (NX Advisory, StepSecurity Blog).

The attack utilized a malicious telemetry.js file triggered via a post-install script. The vulnerability was introduced through a flawed GitHub Actions workflow that allowed code injection through unsanitized pull request titles combined with the pullrequesttarget trigger. The malware specifically targeted non-Windows systems and employed a sophisticated approach by weaponizing AI CLI tools (claude, gemini, q) with dangerous flags to bypass security boundaries. The CVSS v3.1 score for this vulnerability is 9.6 CRITICAL (Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H) (Red Hat CVE, Wiz Blog).

The malware performed systematic harvesting of sensitive information including GitHub tokens, npm registry tokens, SSH keys, cryptocurrency wallets, and environment variables. The stolen data was exfiltrated to publicly accessible repositories created within victims' GitHub accounts. The attack also attempted to maintain persistence by modifying ~/.bashrc and ~/.zshrc files to trigger system shutdowns. Over 400 users/organizations were impacted, with more than 5,500 private repositories being exposed publicly in a second phase of the attack (StepSecurity Blog, Wiz Blog).

Organizations should immediately remove malicious Nx versions using 'rm -rf node_modules && npm cache clean --force', upgrade to clean releases, and remove malicious shell entries from ~/.bashrc and ~/.zshrc. All potentially exposed credentials should be rotated, including GitHub tokens, npm tokens, SSH keys, and API keys. The nx maintainers have implemented additional security controls including mandatory 2FA for all maintainers, disabled npm token-based publishing, and migration to the Trusted Publisher mechanism (StepSecurity Blog, NX Advisory).

The security community responded rapidly to the incident, with multiple security firms and researchers collaborating to investigate and document the attack. GitHub took action by disabling attacker-created repositories approximately 8 hours after the initial compromise to prevent further data exposure. The incident gained significant attention due to its novel approach of weaponizing AI CLI tools and the broad impact on the developer community (Wiz Blog).