this post was submitted on 18 Jul 2025
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[PSA] Malware distributed on the AUR (lists.archlinux.org)
submitted 4 days ago by Xylight@lemdro.id to c/linux@lemmy.ml
83 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

On the 16th of July, at around 8pm UTC+2, a malicious AUR package was uploaded to the AUR. Two other malicious packages were uploaded by the same user a few hours later. These packages were installing a script coming from the same GitHub repository that was identified as a Remote Access Trojan (RAT).

The affected malicious packages are:

  • librewolf-fix-bin
  • firefox-patch-bin
  • zen-browser-patched-bin

The Arch Linux team addressed the issue as soon as they became aware of the situation. As of today, 18th of July, at around 6pm UTC+2, the offending packages have been deleted from the AUR.

We strongly encourage users that may have installed one of these packages to remove them from their system and to take the necessary measures in order to ensure they were not compromised.

Follow up

There are more packages with this malware found.

  • minecraft-cracked
  • ttf-ms-fonts-all
  • vesktop-bin-patched
  • ttf-all-ms-fonts

What to do

If you installed any of these packages, check your running processes for one named systemd-initd (this is the RAT).

The suspicious packages have a patch from this now-inaccessible Codeberg repo: https://codeberg.org/arch_lover3/browser-patch

The Arch maintainers have been informed of all this already and are investigating.

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[–] Ulrich@feddit.org 7 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (1 children)

The affected malicious packages are:

librewolf-fix-bin firefox-patch-bin zen-browser-patched-bin

So...did someone just like create a new package cloning these or did they somehow get into the "official" repository? Is there no attestation process?

[–] forbiddenlake@lemmy.world 36 points 3 days ago (2 children)

Aur is completely user controlled, it is not official and not trusted. Someone just decided to use those names and upload something.

[–] MentalEdge@sopuli.xyz 8 points 3 days ago

To be clear, when projects distribute their software via the aur, someone else can't just issue an update using their package name.

This person appended "fix" and "patched" to appear in searches next to legitimate packages, and seem worth installing instead.

[–] Ulrich@feddit.org 1 points 3 days ago (2 children)

Oof. Does this happen often?

[–] MentalEdge@sopuli.xyz 5 points 3 days ago

To be clear, they created new packages with these names. Anyone can make anything available on the AUR, but you cannot issue updates under someone elses existing package name.

[–] tehn00bi@lemmy.world 4 points 3 days ago (1 children)

It’s a known risk.

[–] Ulrich@feddit.org 0 points 3 days ago (2 children)

Not what I asked.

[–] jenesaisquoi@feddit.org 9 points 3 days ago

The frequency of this happening does not inform you of the risk. Because there is no attestation it could happen rarely for some time and then suddenly a lot. Or the inverse. No way to tell.

[–] HERRAX@sopuli.xyz 6 points 3 days ago

It's surprisingly rare imo