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A Software Engineering Analysis of the XZ Utils Supply Chain Attack

15 hours ago
https://arxiv.org/abs/2504.17473
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  • #Software Engineering
  • #Supply Chain Attack
  • #Open Source Security
  • The digital economy heavily relies on Open Source Software (OSS), with 90% of modern applications containing open-source components.
  • The XZ Utils project (CVE-2024-3094) was targeted in a sophisticated supply chain attack that exploited open-source development processes.
  • Attackers manipulated software engineering practices, including community management and CI/CD configurations, to inject a backdoor into a fundamental Linux compression library.
  • The attack involved leveraging seemingly beneficial contributions to project infrastructure to bypass traditional security measures.
  • This study highlights how software engineering practices can be weaponized, offering insights for protecting the open-source ecosystem.
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