Malicious versions of the nx package and several supporting plugin packages were published to npm on August 26, 2025. Those packages contained code that scanned local file systems, collected credentials, and created GitHub repositories under affected users’ accounts to exfiltrate data. The compromise affected multiple nx packages and plugin versions; the malicious versions have since been removed from the npm registry. The root cause was a vulnerable GitHub Actions workflow that used the pull_request_target trigger, which runs with elevated permissions and a GITHUB_TOKEN. The GITHUB_TOKEN is believed to have been used to trigger the publish.yml workflow to publish the compromised packages.
"Malicious versions of the nx package, as well as some supporting plugin packages, were published to npm, containing code that scans the file system, collects credentials, and posts them to GitHub as a repo under the user's accounts," the maintainers said in an advisory published Wednesday.
"The pull_request_target trigger was used as a way to trigger the action to run whenever a PR was created or modified," the nx team said.
"However, what was missed is the warning that this trigger, unlike the standard pull_request trigger, runs workflows with elevated permissions, including a GITHUB_TOKEN which has read/write repository permission."
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