Claude Code source leaks; 140 fake repos seed Vidar within hours
·The Hacker News
On April 4 an Anthropic engineer accidentally pushed an internal branch of Claude Code to a public GitHub fork, exposing source for ~3 hours before takedown. Within hours, threat actors seeded ~140 fake 'claude-code' and 'claude-cli' GitHub repositories using the leaked code as bait, bundling the Vidar infostealer in post-install npm hooks. Checkmarx tracked at least 1,200 malicious installs before GitHub's trust & safety team removed the repos. A textbook case of supply-chain opportunism on fresh leaked code.
Supply ChainAnthropicVidarGitHubCheckmarx
Why it matters
Live demonstration that every major AI-coding-tool release now has a ~hours-window supply-chain attack surface. The ~140 weaponized repos and ~1,200 infected installs within one workday set the new baseline for how fast adversaries turn leaks into RATs. Every company deploying AI dev tools needs npm/PyPI provenance checks and internal mirror enforcement, today — not next quarter.
Impact scorecard
8.3/10
Stakes
8.5
Novelty
7.5
Authority
8.5
Coverage
8.0
Concreteness
9.0
Social
8.5
FUD risk
1.5
Coverage28 outlets · 5 tier-1
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