Laravel-Lang PHP Packages Compromised to Deliver Cross-Platform Credential Stealer
The Hacker NewsArchived May 23, 2026✓ Full text saved
Cybersecurity researchers have flagged a fresh software supply chain attack campaign that has targeted multiple PHP packages belonging to Laravel-Lang to deliver a comprehensive credential-stealing framework. The affected packages include - laravel-lang/lang laravel-lang/http-statuses laravel-lang/attributes laravel-lang/actions "The timing and pattern of the newly published tags
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✦ AI Summary· Claude Sonnet
Laravel-Lang PHP Packages Compromised to Deliver Cross-Platform Credential Stealer
Ravie LakshmananMay 23, 2026Supply Chain Attack / Malware
Cybersecurity researchers have flagged a fresh software supply chain attack campaign that has targeted multiple PHP packages belonging to Laravel-Lang to deliver a comprehensive credential-stealing framework.
The affected packages include -
laravel-lang/lang
laravel-lang/http-statuses
laravel-lang/attributes
laravel-lang/actions
"The timing and pattern of the newly published tags point to a broader compromise of the Laravel Lang organization's release process, rather than a single malicious package version," Socket said. "The tags were published in rapid succession on May 22 and May 23, 2026, with many versions appearing only seconds apart."
More than 700 versions associated with these packages have been identified, indicating automated mass tagging or republishing. It's suspected that the attacker may have managed to obtain access to organization-level credentials, repository automation, or release infrastructure.
The core malicious functionality is located in a file named "src/helpers.php" that's embedded into the version tags. It's mainly designed to fingerprint the infected host and contact an external server ("flipboxstudio[.]info") to retrieve a PHP-based cross-platform payload that runs on Windows, Linux, and macOS.
According to Aikido Security, the dropper delivers a Visual Basic Script launcher on Windows and runs it via cscript. On Linux and macOS, it executes the stealer payload via exec().
"Because this file ['src/helpers.php'] is registered in the composer.json under autoload.files, the backdoor is executed automatically on every PHP request handled by the compromised application," Socket explained.
"The script generates a unique per-host marker (an MD5 hash combining the directory path, system architecture, and inode) to ensure the payload only triggers once per machine. This prevents redundant executions and helps the malware remain undetected after the initial run."
The stealer is equipped to harvest a wide range of data from compromised systems and exfiltrate it to the same server. This includes -
IAM roles and instance identity documents by querying cloud metadata endpoints
Google Cloud application default credentials
Microsoft Azure access tokens and service principal profiles
Kubernetes Service Account tokens and Helm registry configurations
Authentication tokens for DigitalOcean, Heroku, Vercel, Netlify, Railway and Fly.io
HashiCorp Vault tokens
Tokens and configurations from Jenkins, GitLab Runners, GitHub Actions, CircleCI, TravisCI, and ArgoCD
Seed phrases and files associated with cryptocurrency wallets (Electrum, Exodus, Atomic, Ledger Live, Trezor, Wasabi, and Sparrow) and extensions (MetaMask, Phantom, Trust Wallet, Ronin, Keplr, Solflare, and Rabby)
Browser history, cookies, and login data from Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Mozilla Firefox, Brave, and Opera by using a Base64-encoded embedded Windows executable that bypass Chromium's app-bound encryption (ABE) protections
Local vaults and browser extension data for 1Password, Bitwarden, LastPass, KeePass, Dashlane, and NordPass
PuTTY/WinSCP saved sessions
Windows Credential Manager dumps
WinSCP saved sessions
RDP files
Session tokens associated with applications like Discord, Slack, and Telegram
Data from Microsoft Outlook, Thunderbird, and popular FTP clients (FileZilla, WinSCP, and CoreFTP)
Configuration and credential files containing Docker auth tokens, SSH private keys, Git credentials, shell history files, database history files, Kubernetes cluster configurations, .env files, wp-config.php, and docker-compose.yml
Environment variables loaded into the PHP process
Source control credentials from global and local .gitconfig files, .git-credentials, and .netrc files
VPN configuration and saved login files for OpenVPN, WireGuard, NetworkManager, and commercial VPNs such as NordVPN, ExpressVPN, CyberGhost, and Mullvad
"The fetched payload is a ~5,900 line PHP credential stealer, organised into fifteen specialist collector modules," Aikido researcher Ilyas Makari said. "After collecting everything it can find, it encrypts the results with AES-256 and sends them to flipboxstudio[.]info/exfil. It then deletes itself from the disk to limit forensic evidence."
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Cloud security, Composer, Credential Theft, cryptocurrency, cybersecurity, DevOps, Laravel-Lang, Malware, PHP, Supply Chain Attack
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