COMMON ATTACK PATTERN ENUMERATION AND CLASSIFICATIONLive MITRE record

CAPEC-691

Spoof Open-Source Software Metadata

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

Abstraction

Standard

Typical severity

High

Likelihood of attack

Medium

Understand the attack

What is this attack pattern?

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

Extended description

Due to open-source software's popularity, it serves as a desirable attack-vector for adversaries since a single malicious component may result in the exploitation of numerous systems/applications. Adversaries may, therefore, spoof the metadata pertaining to the open-source software in order to trick victims into downloading and using their malicious software. Examples of metadata that may be spoofed include: Owner of the software (e.g., repository or package owner) Author(s) of repository commits Frequency of repository commits Date/Time of repository commits Package or Repository "stars" Once the malicious software component has been integrated into an underlying application or executed on a system, the adversary is ultimately able to achieve numerous negative technical impacts within the system/application. This often occurs without any indication of compromise.

Requirements

What does the attack require?

Prerequisites

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

Skills required

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

Resources required

Not stated in the MITRE record.

Impact

What does a successful attack lead to?

Modify Data

Affected scopes: Integrity

Hide Activities

Affected scopes: Accountability

Execute Unauthorized CommandsAlter Execution LogicGain Privileges

Affected scopes: Access Control, Authorization

Defence

How is it prevented and mitigated?

1
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.
2
Within package managers, look for conflicting or non-unique repository references to determine if multiple packages share the same repository reference.
3
Reference vulnerability databases to determine if the software contains known vulnerabilities.
4
Only download open-source software from reputable hosting sites or package managers.
5
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.
6
After downloading open-source software, ensure integrity values have not changed.
7
Before executing or incorporating the software, leverage automated testing techniques (e.g., static and dynamic analysis) to determine if the software behaves maliciously.

Real world

MITRE example instances

Example instance 1Detail
An adversary provides a malicious open-source library, claiming to provide extended logging features and functionality, and spoofs the metadata with that of a widely used legitimate library. The adversary then tricks victims into including this library in their underlying application. Once the malicious software is incorporated into the application, the adversary is able to manipulate and exfiltrate log data.