Recently a malicious AUR package used a npm dependency (atomic-lockfile) to compromise systems. What was insidious about the attack was that it was more indirect than installing a simple backdoor: the PKGBUILD looked clean, instead the payload was in a transitive npm dependency.

That means it was very hard to detect (I certainly do not check all AUR dependencies) and it ran silently during the install phase. The incident was a good opportunity to have a closer look at my own setup.

The supply chain attacks on linux just keep coming: in June 2026, a malicious package was discovered in the Arch User Repository (AUR). I first read about this in ioctl.fail. Here is what happened in the short version (for long version go to ioctl.fail).

An attacker masked a binary by hiding it in the dependency tree of (the legitimate package) atomic-lockfile (v1.4.2). The hidden binary runs at install time via an npm hook. It is designed to steal credentials, installs a persistent systemd service and loads an eBPF rootkit to hide itself and exfiltrates everything over Tor. All silently - so this is pretty advanced stuff.

• State “DONE” from “TODO” [2025-03-27 Thu 14:44]

Natas teaches the basics of serverside web-security.

Each level of natas consists of its own website located at http://natasx.natas.labs.overthewire.org, where X is the level number. There is no SSH login. To access a level, enter the username for that level (e.g. natas0 for level 0) and its password.

Each level has access to the password of the next level. Your job is to somehow obtain that next password and level up. All passwords are also stored in etc/natas_webpass. E.g. the password for natas5 is stored in the file /etc/natas_webpass/natas5 and only readable by natas4 and natas5.

• State “DONE” from “TODO” [2025-03-27 Thu 14:43]

The Bandit wargame is aimed at absolute beginners. It will teach the basics needed to be able to play other wargames. If you notice something essential is missing or have ideas for new levels, please let us know!

Note for beginners This game, like most other games, is organised in levels. You start at Level 0 and try to “beat” or “finish” it. Finishing a level results in information on how to start the next level. The pages on this website for “Level <X>” contain information on how to start level X from the previous level. E.g. The page for Level 1 has information on how to gain access from Level 0 to Level 1. All levels in this game have a page on this website, and they are all linked to from the sidemenu on the left of this page.

Over the wire offers a lot of free and fun machines to learn to gradually access a Linux machine, gain a foothold and then pivot from there. It has several games catering to different stages of expertise.

• Bandit Complete Walkthrough
• Natas Complete Walkthrough

What is Burpsuite and why you should use it

As we’ve already hinted at, Burp Suite is a sort of Dev Tools on steroids. It’s a suite of web app tools that intercepts traffic and lets you inspect it, modify it, and even automate your testing.

But you don’t need to be a professional or have a ton of add-ons to get value from it. Being able to easily see and modify requests, and automate/create new requests will be a big help to you as a newbie, too.