Supply Chain Attack Recon

When to use

Trigger when:

• Target has a public GitHub organization (find via OSINT)
• JS bundles reference internal-looking package names (@target-internal/..., target-utils, target-shared)
• Build logs, SBOMs, or package-lock.json files are publicly accessible
• Target uses CI/CD that's partially public (GitHub Actions, GitLab CI, Bitrise)
• Docker images on Docker Hub/GHCR/Quay belong to target org
• Findings include npmrc/pip.conf/gradle.properties with internal registry URLs
• .github/workflows/*.yml files reference internal tooling

Do NOT use for:

• Internal-network artifact registries (out of scope per external boundary)
• Actually publishing typosquats / dep-confusion packages without explicit OK
• Compromising upstream open-source projects (massive blast radius — illegal in most jurisdictions without authorization)

The supply-chain attack surface map

Target Org
├── Public GitHub Org → workflow files → secrets exfil opportunities
├── Internal package names in JS/Android bundles → dependency confusion
├── Docker images on public registries → secrets in layers, RCE on pull
├── SBOM / artifact metadata → exact dep versions for known-vuln chaining
├── npmrc / pip.conf in repos → internal registry URL disclosure
├── External package dependencies → typosquat name candidates
└── Build/release pipelines → injection if pull_request_target etc.

Step 1 — GitHub org discovery

TARGET="<brand>"  # set to target brand name

# Direct guesses
for guess in $TARGET "${TARGET}-tech" "${TARGET}corp" "${TARGET}-io" "${TARGET}-eng"; do
  curl -sI "https://github.com/$guess" | grep -E "HTTP|status" | head -1
done

# Via WHOIS / email-domain → GitHub search
gh search users --owner-affiliations=organization --query "$TARGET" --limit 10

# Via employees → reverse from social media + GitHub profile
# Many employees list their employer org on their GitHub profile

Step 2 — Enumerate public repos for sensitive artifacts

ORG="targetorg"

# List public repos
gh repo list "$ORG" --limit 100 --json name,description,visibility,defaultBranchRef

# Look for high-signal repo names
gh repo list "$ORG" --limit 100 --json name | jq -r '.[].name' | grep -iE "internal|infra|deploy|config|secret|setup|sdk|api"

# Clone all (small org) or selectively
gh repo clone "$ORG/$repo_name"

Step 3 — Internal package-name discovery

From JS bundles

# JS bundles are the easiest source of internal npm names
curl -sk https://target.com/main.js | grep -oE '@[a-z-]+/[a-z-]+' | sort -u
curl -sk https://target.com/main.js | grep -oE 'require\("[^"]+"\)' | sort -u

# Look for scoped names that are NOT public on npm
for pkg in @target/utils @target-internal/api @companybrand/sdk; do
  status=$(curl -sI "https://registry.npmjs.org/$pkg" | head -1 | awk '{print $2}')
  echo "  $pkg → $status"
  # 404 → name unclaimed on public npm → DEPENDENCY-CONFUSION CANDIDATE
done

From GitHub repo package.json files

# Public repos with package.json that reference internal scopes
for repo in $(gh repo list "$ORG" --limit 50 --json name --jq '.[].name'); do
  pkg=$(gh api "repos/$ORG/$repo/contents/package.json" --jq '.content' 2>/dev/null | base64 -d 2>/dev/null)
  echo "$pkg" | jq -r '.dependencies // {} | keys[]' 2>/dev/null | grep -E '^@[a-z-]+/'
done | sort -u

From Python projects

# Internal pip package names
for repo in $(gh repo list "$ORG" --limit 50 --json name --jq '.[].name'); do
  gh api "repos/$ORG/$repo/contents/requirements.txt" --jq '.content' 2>/dev/null | base64 -d 2>/dev/null
done | sort -u | grep -vE '^(requests|django|flask|numpy|pandas|...common)'

Step 4 — Dependency-confusion vulnerability check

For each internal-looking package name discovered:

NAME="@target-internal/utils"   # example

# npm check
curl -sI "https://registry.npmjs.org/$NAME" | head -1
# 404 → name is registerable → DEPENDENCY-CONFUSION POSSIBLE

# pypi check (no scopes, just name)
NAME="target_utils"
curl -sI "https://pypi.org/project/$NAME/" | head -1
# 404 → name is registerable

# rubygems
curl -sI "https://rubygems.org/api/v1/gems/$NAME.json" | head -1

# Go modules — slightly different, since module names are URLs
# Check if module path is reachable
curl -sI "https://proxy.golang.org/github.com/$ORG/$NAME/@latest" | head -1

Severity calibration: Just because a name is unclaimed doesn't mean it's exploitable. You also need:

1. Evidence the target's BUILD SYSTEM resolves names from public registries (not just their internal one)
2. OR evidence the target's package manager is configured insecurely (e.g., .npmrc without @scope:registry= mapping)
3. OR the package would be installed by their builds (it's actually in package.json, not just referenced in dead code)

A 404 on registry without supporting context is INFORMATIONAL only.

Step 5 — Typosquat candidates (around external dependencies)

For each external public dependency the target uses:

# Common typosquat patterns:
# Original: "react-router-dom"
# Typos: 
#   "react-router-doms" (extra s)
#   "react-routter-dom" (double t)
#   "react-rotuer-dom" (transposed)
#   "react--router-dom" (double dash)
#   "react-router-dorn" (m→rn)
#   "reactrouterdom" (no dashes)

# Generate candidates
python3 -c "
import sys
name='react-router-dom'
for i in range(len(name)):
    print(name[:i] + name[i+1:])   # delete
    if i < len(name)-1:
        print(name[:i] + name[i+1] + name[i] + name[i+2:])  # transpose
"

# Check which candidates are UNCLAIMED on the registry
for candidate in ...; do
  status=$(curl -sI "https://registry.npmjs.org/$candidate" | head -1 | awk '{print $2}')
  [ "$status" = "404" ] && echo "  UNCLAIMED: $candidate"
done

⚠ EXTERNAL-OFFENSIVE NOTE: publishing a typosquat package to a public registry is an attack on the wider ecosystem. NEVER do this without explicit, written, scope-clarified sign-off. It can affect users outside your engagement and may be illegal.

Step 6 — GitHub Actions workflow injection scan

For each public repo with .github/workflows/:

for repo in $(gh repo list "$ORG" --limit 50 --json name --jq '.[].name'); do
  workflows=$(gh api "repos/$ORG/$repo/contents/.github/workflows" --jq '.[].name' 2>/dev/null)
  for wf in $workflows; do
    content=$(gh api "repos/$ORG/$repo/contents/.github/workflows/$wf" --jq '.content' 2>/dev/null | base64 -d 2>/dev/null)
    echo "=== $repo/$wf ==="
    
    # High-risk patterns:
    # 1. pull_request_target (runs with secrets on PR from forks)
    echo "$content" | grep -E 'pull_request_target'
    
    # 2. Untrusted context interpolation
    echo "$content" | grep -E '\$\{\{[^}]*github\.(event|head_ref|pull_request)[^}]*\}\}'
    
    # 3. ${{ github.event.* }} into shell run blocks
    echo "$content" | grep -B1 -A2 'run:' | grep -E '\$\{\{ ?github\.event\.'
    
    # 4. checkout of PR head with elevated perms
    echo "$content" | grep -E 'ref:.*pull_request|head_ref'
    
    # 5. Self-hosted runner without isolation
    echo "$content" | grep -E 'runs-on:.*self-hosted'
  done
done

Injection patterns to flag (severity guide)

Step 7 — Docker / container image registry mining

# Docker Hub
curl -s "https://hub.docker.com/v2/repositories/$ORG/?page_size=100" | jq -r '.results[].name'

# GHCR (GitHub Container Registry) — public images visible in repo packages tab
gh api "users/$ORG/packages?package_type=container" 2>/dev/null
gh api "orgs/$ORG/packages?package_type=container" 2>/dev/null

# For each image, list tags
for img in image1 image2; do
  curl -s "https://hub.docker.com/v2/repositories/$ORG/$img/tags?page_size=20" | jq -r '.results[].name'
done

# Pull and inspect layers
docker pull "$ORG/$img:latest"
docker history --no-trunc "$ORG/$img:latest"

# Mine layers for secrets
docker save "$ORG/$img:latest" -o /tmp/image.tar
mkdir -p /tmp/img && tar -xf /tmp/image.tar -C /tmp/img
find /tmp/img -name "*.tar*" -exec tar -xf {} -C /tmp/img/extracted \;
# Then run gitleaks / trufflehog over extracted filesystem
trufflehog filesystem /tmp/img/extracted --no-update

Step 8 — SBOM / artifact metadata leakage

# Look for SBOMs published as releases (SPDX, CycloneDX format)
gh api "repos/$ORG/$REPO/releases" --jq '.[] | .assets[] | select(.name | test("sbom|cyclonedx|spdx"; "i")) | .browser_download_url'

# JSON dependency lockfiles in releases
gh api "repos/$ORG/$REPO/releases" --jq '.[] | .assets[] | select(.name | test("lock|deps"; "i")) | .browser_download_url'

# Exact-version-pinned deps → known-CVE chaining
# Compare versions to nuclei nvd templates or osv.dev for known vulns
curl -s "https://api.osv.dev/v1/query" -d '{"package": {"name": "lodash", "ecosystem": "npm"}, "version": "4.17.10"}'

Step 9 — Internal registry URL leakage

# .npmrc patterns
grep -r "registry=" .                                            # in cloned repos
grep -r "_authToken=" .                                          # leaked npm token!
grep -r "@.*registry=" .                                          # scoped registry

# pip config
grep -r "extra-index-url" .
grep -r "index-url" .

# Gradle / Maven
grep -rE "(mavenCentral|maven\s*\{)" .
grep -r "url.*\(.*nexus" .

# Each leaked internal URL is intel — flag the URL itself even if not directly exploitable

Step 10 — npm/PyPI organizational presence

# Some orgs maintain a public npm scope mirroring their brand
curl -s "https://registry.npmjs.org/-/v1/search?text=scope:$ORG&size=50" | jq '.objects[].package.name'

# Public PyPI presence
curl -s "https://pypi.org/simple/" | grep "$ORG" | head -20

# Check if scope is taken — if it's NOT, an attacker could register
# (relevant for any internal package using that scope)
curl -sI "https://registry.npmjs.org/-/org/$ORG"

Tooling

Severity scoring guidance

Anti-patterns

• DO NOT publish a typosquat / dep-confusion package without explicit, signed, scope-clarified authorization — this affects users outside the engagement
• DO NOT submit PRs to client repos as part of testing without specific OK — workflow injection PoCs may be needed but they touch CI/CD and other developers
• DO NOT scrape entire npm/PyPI for typosquat candidates — irresponsible and noisy
• DO NOT confuse "name is unclaimed" with "exploitable dependency confusion" — the build system matters; many orgs use proper scope-mapping that prevents the attack
• DO NOT touch GitHub Actions self-hosted runners — they may be inside the client network and outside the external scope
• DO NOT pull large Docker images blindly — image bandwidth can be 5-50GB; review tags first

What constitutes a deliverable finding

A supply-chain finding needs ALL of:

1. Concrete name/path — exact internal package name, exact workflow file path, exact image tag
2. Vulnerability mechanism — dep-confusion / typosquat / injection / etc.
3. Exploitability evidence — proof the build/install would actually use the attacker's payload (not just "name is unclaimed")
4. Severity — calibrated to blast radius (one developer? all developers? all users of the package?)
5. Recommendation — specific (e.g., "register the unused name @target-internal/utils on npm AS YOUR OWN even if unused; configure .npmrc scope:registry mapping")

Bridge to neighboring skills

• apk-redteam-pipeline — APKs reveal internal package names too (find them in decompiled build.gradle)
• cloud-iam-deep — CI/CD secrets often = cloud credentials; this skill finds them, that skill validates them
• hunt-cloud-misconfig — CI/CD pipeline misconfig (Jenkins / GitLab Runner) overlap
• m365-entra-attack — Azure DevOps pipelines are part of Entra surface
• redteam-report-template — supply-chain findings need extra clarity on blast radius (one repo vs whole ecosystem)
• mid-engagement-ir-detection — registering a name on public npm triggers nothing inside the client, but ANY publish action is loud and audit-trailed

External-only boundary check

This skill is squarely external — all targets are public registries / public GitHub. If the engagement involves the client's internal artifact registry (internal Nexus, JFrog, Sonatype), that is internal infrastructure and OUT OF SCOPE per feedback_skill_boundaries. Report internal-registry URL exposure as a finding; do not attempt to enumerate it.

Real-world references

• Alex Birsan 2021 — Original dependency-confusion research, $130K+ in bounties from Apple/Microsoft/PayPal/Yelp/etc.
• ua-parser-js 2021 — npm package compromise via stolen maintainer credentials
• node-ipc 2022 — Maintainer-introduced supply-chain malicious update
• 3CX 2023 — Cascading supply-chain attack via X_TRADER → 3CX → customers
• XZ Utils 2024 — Multi-year social-engineering supply-chain attack on upstream OSS

Each of these is worth reading for what made the attack effective and what red flags existed earlier.

Related Skills & Chains

• hunt-rce — Dependency confusion lands as RCE on whatever runner installs the package; CI runners are the highest-value target. Chain primitive: internal package name leaked in public JS bundle / SBOM / Docker image → publish malicious package to public npm/PyPI under same name with higher version → next npm install / pip install on CI runner executes attacker code in preinstall hook → hunt-rce post-foothold (env-var extraction yields AWS keys, GitHub PATs, Slack tokens) → CI-plane takeover.
• cloud-iam-deep — CI runners have IAM credentials; supply-chain RCE there is a credential-exfil bonanza. Chain primitive: malicious package executes on GitHub Actions runner → reads $AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID / $GITHUB_TOKEN from env → cloud-iam-deep enumeration → IAM-privilege-escalation chain → production cloud-plane access.
• offensive-osint — Recon discipline overlaps heavily; SBOMs, JS bundles, GitHub org enumeration, Docker registry tags all live in both. Chain primitive: offensive-osint GitHub-org recon yields internal package names referenced in CI workflows → supply-chain-attack-recon cross-references these against public npm/PyPI for typosquat/confusion candidates.
• hunt-cloud-misconfig — Container registries (Docker Hub, GHCR, ECR public) frequently expose private images by accident. Chain primitive: SBOM mining reveals internal-tools-v2:latest referenced → check Docker Hub for accidentally-public mirror → hunt-cloud-misconfig registry enum → pull image → extract secrets baked into layers.
• triage-validation + redteam-report-template — Supply-chain RECON is in scope; actual publishing is EXTERNAL-OFFENSIVE and needs explicit written sign-off. Chain primitive: recon-only candidate list assembled → run through triage-validation 7-Question Gate (specifically: "can I demonstrate impact WITHOUT publishing?") → report as "dependency-confusion candidate inventory + reproduction steps" via redteam-report-template, never as a published-package PoC unless client signed off in writing.