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Laravel-Lang PHP Packages Compromised to Deliver Cross-Platform Credential Stealer

The Hacker News Archived 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 LakshmananMay 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." Found this article interesting? Follow us on Google News, Twitter and LinkedIn to read more exclusive content we post. SHARE     Tweet Share Share SHARE  Cloud security, Composer, Credential Theft, cryptocurrency, cybersecurity, DevOps, Laravel-Lang, Malware, PHP, Supply Chain Attack ⚡ Top Stories This Week On-Prem Microsoft Exchange Server CVE-2026-42897 Exploited via Crafted Email Microsoft's MDASH AI System Finds 16 Windows Flaws Fixed in Patch Tuesday Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Controller Auth Bypass Actively Exploited to Gain Admin Access New Fragnesia Linux Kernel LPE Grants Root Access via Page Cache Corruption Windows Zero-Days Expose BitLocker Bypasses And CTFMON Privilege Escalation Hackers Used AI to Develop First Known Zero-Day 2FA Bypass for Mass Exploitation Mini Shai-Hulud Worm Compromises TanStack, Mistral AI, Guardrails AI and More Packages Ollama Out-of-Bounds Read Vulnerability Allows Remote Process Memory Leak Microsoft Patches 138 Vulnerabilities, Including DNS and Netlogon RCE Flaws 18-Year-Old NGINX Rewrite Module Flaw Enables Unauthenticated RCE [Webinar] How Modern Attack Paths Cross Code, Pipelines, and Cloud New Exim BDAT Vulnerability Exposes GnuTLS Builds to Potential Code Execution ⚡ Weekly Recap: Linux Rootkit, macOS Crypto Stealer, WebSocket Skimmers and More Four OpenClaw Flaws Enable Data Theft, Privilege Escalation, and Persistence cPanel CVE-2026-41940 Under Active Exploitation to Deploy Filemanager Backdoor ThreatsDay Bulletin: PAN-OS RCE, Mythos cURL Bug, AI Tokenizer Attacks, and 10+ Stories Load More ▼ ⭐ Featured Resources [Webinar] Learn How to Handle Critical SOC Alerts With AI Support [eBook] Get the 3-Number SOC Diagnostic to Reduce Queue Risk Identify Internal Attack Surfaces More Efficiently With a Free Assessment [Guide] Stop Email Fraud Before It Turns Into Ransomware Damage
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    The Hacker News
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    ◇ Industry News & Leadership
    Published
    May 23, 2026
    Archived
    May 23, 2026
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