Home / Technology / Anthropic Account Backdoored: 5,000 Devs at Risk
Anthropic Account Backdoored: 5,000 Devs at Risk
31 Oct
Summary
- Anthropic's verified Cursor account was compromised by attackers.
- A malicious VS Code extension affected up to 5,000 developers.
- The compromised extension attempted to install an SSH backdoor.
An official Anthropic VS Code extension, distributed through the AI-assisted developer tool Cursor, was backdoored, potentially impacting as many as 5,000 developers. The compromised version, 2.1.313, was available for a limited time on Thursday before being superseded by a clean version. Attackers gained control of Anthropic's verified account on Cursor, allowing them to push the malicious package.
The backdoored extension was designed to install a persistent SSH backdoor across Windows, macOS, and Linux systems. It aimed to collect sensitive information like host details and user data, and attempt to establish a reverse SSH tunnel. Despite coding flaws that hindered its full functionality on some operating systems, the malware was still capable of establishing persistence and exfiltrating reconnaissance data to its operator.
Cursor has since removed the malicious extension, blocked further distribution, and worked with cloud providers to disrupt the connection to the compromised server. They also temporarily shut down the VSCode Marketplace to conduct audits and ensure no other extensions were affected. It remains unclear how the attackers gained access to Anthropic's official account, and neither company has publicly detailed the exact method of the supply-chain compromise.
