OVHcloud CLI backdoored on GitHub in attack targeting developer secrets

Five versions of the open-source tool were tampered with; the cloud provider urges affected users to revoke all credentials

By LineZotpaper

Published20 October 2026

Read Time2 min

French cloud and hosting provider OVHcloud is warning users that attackers hijacked a developer's GitHub account and distributed backdoored versions of its open-source command-line interface (CLI) tool, packing the releases with malware designed to steal credentials and secrets from developers' machines.

OVHcloud said versions 0.11.0 through 0.15.0 of the CLI were affected, while version 0.10.0 and the latest release, 0.16.0, were clean. The compromised release appeared at 14:47 on 19 October and was detected and blocked at 16:21 after a customer reported it, according to CEO Octave Klaba.

"The compromised versions are v0.11.0 v0.12.0 v0.13.0 v0.14.0 v0.15.0," Klaba said. Despite what he called the poor quality of the malware, its purpose was to "retrieve secrets from the disk." Klaba said GitHub's release immutability setting had been disabled, which allowed an account with sufficient privileges to modify existing releases without passing the project's CI/CD checks. "The entire set of CI/CD pipelines with unit tests, functional tests, CVE detection, etc., were not impacted."

OVHcloud said it has enabled GitHub's release immutability feature and considers the incident resolved. Klaba urged anyone who downloaded a compromised package to perform a system cleanup and revoke all secrets. "The quality of the binary is poor but it can go all the way. If you are affected, please change all the secrets on your disk."

The community-run threat intelligence platform OpenSourceMalware said the attack was likely part of a new operation by a group it tracks as GlassWorm, which has run campaigns since late 2025 targeting the VSCode, OpenVSX, GitHub and npm developer ecosystems. The researchers said the attacker did not tamper with CI/CD pipelines and uploaded locally built, malware-infected packages. The GitHub account used in the attack had been compromised for more than half a year, they found, noting a scripted history rewrite on 5 March 2026 and a hidden preinstall.js loader that decodes to a second stage using a Solana memo dead drop.

Affected platforms are macOS (Intel and ARM), Linux (x86_64 and ARM64) and Windows x86-64. Source builds and Docker images were unaffected. OpenSourceMalware said anyone who ran an affected binary should treat all secrets on the machine as compromised.

Analysis

Why This Matters

This is a supply-chain attack on a widely used developer tool: anyone who ran an affected binary may have had credentials and secrets stolen from their machine.
OVHcloud is a major European cloud and hosting provider, and its CLI is used by system administrators to automate infrastructure management.
The incident shows how a disabled GitHub release immutability setting can let an attacker replace published releases without triggering project checks.

Background

Open-source supply-chain attacks, in which attackers compromise maintainer accounts and inject malware into trusted developer tools, have become a persistent concern across the software industry. This incident follows that pattern: a long-compromised GitHub account was used to swap legitimate releases for malicious binaries while source code and automated pipelines were left untouched. Researchers attribute the attack to a campaign group, GlassWorm, previously seen targeting developer ecosystems.

Key Perspectives

OVHcloud: The company says the incident is resolved, GitHub release immutability has been re-enabled, and affected users should clean their systems and change all secrets on disk. Its CEO disclosed the compromise and the detection timeline. OpenSourceMalware: The researchers link the attack to a new GlassWorm operation, note the compromised account had been controlled for over half a year, and confirm that CI/CD pipelines were not tampered with, with malware uploaded through locally built packages. Affected developers and administrators: They face the practical burden of rotating every credential on any machine where the tool was run, since the malware's purpose was to harvest secrets from disk.

What to Watch

Whether researchers complete analysis of the payload and firm up the GlassWorm attribution.
Whether further compromised packages or related campaigns appear in other developer ecosystems.
Whether OVHcloud's post-incident changes, including release immutability, hold against similar attempts.

Sources

OVHcloud CLI releases backdoored on GitHub to steal developer secrets · BleepingComputer

Checked

12 claims in this story checked against 1 source: 9 supported.

Show each claim

SupportedThe OVHcloud CLI was backdoored on GitHub in an attack targeting developer secrets.BleepingComputer: “OVHcloud CLI releases backdoored on GitHub to steal developer secrets.”
SupportedFive CLI versions were tampered with.BleepingComputer: “modify versions 0.11.0 through 0.15.0 of the tool.”
Partly supportedOVHcloud urged affected users to revoke all credentials.BleepingComputer: “Klaba urges users who downloaded a compromised CLI package to perform a system cleanup and revoke all secrets.”
SupportedAttackers hijacked a developer’s GitHub account to distribute backdoored CLI versions.BleepingComputer: “The attacker hijacked a developer’s GitHub account to gain access to the OVHcloud CLI repository and modify versions 0.11.0 through 0.15.0 of the tool.”
Partly supportedThe malware was designed to steal credentials and secrets from developers’ machines.BleepingComputer: “Despite the poor quality of the malware, its purpose was to “retrieve secrets from the disk,” Klaba explained.”
SupportedKlaba said the compromised versions were v0.11.0 through v0.15.0.BleepingComputer: ““The compromised versions are v0.11.0 v0.12.0 v0.13.0 v0.14.0 v0.15.0,” the CEO said”
SupportedThe compromised release appeared at 14:47 on 19 October and was detected and blocked at 16:21 after a customer report.BleepingComputer: “the compromised release appeared at 14:47 on October 19 and was detected and blocked at 16:21 after a customer reported it.”
SupportedKlaba said the malware’s purpose was to “retrieve secrets from the disk.”BleepingComputer: “Despite the poor quality of the malware, its purpose was to “retrieve secrets from the disk,” Klaba explained.”
SupportedGitHub’s release immutability setting was disabled, allowing a sufficiently privileged account to modify releases without passing CI/CD checks.BleepingComputer: “GitHub’s release immutability setting was disabled, allowing a sufficiently privileged account to modify existing releases without passing CI/CD checks.”
SupportedKlaba said the CI/CD pipelines were not impacted.BleepingComputer: ““The entire set of CI/CD pipelines with unit tests, functional tests, CVE detection, etc., were not impacted.””
SupportedKlaba said, “The quality of the binary is poor but it can go all the way. If you are affected, please change all the secrets on your disk.”BleepingComputer: ““The quality of the binary is poor but it can go all the way. If you are affected, please change all the secrets on your disk.””
Partly supportedOpenSourceMalware said the attack was likely part of a new GlassWorm operation, whose campaigns since late 2025 targeted developer ecosystems.BleepingComputer: “According to OpenSourceMalware, a community-driven threat intelligence platform, the attack was likely part of a new GlassWorm operation, known for campaigns since late 2025 that impacted the VSCode, OpenVSX, GitHub, and npm software development ecosystems.”