Week in review: Hidden implant in Ledger wallets linked to $93M theft, 1,500+ npm packages exposed - Help Net Security

What happened

npm Trusted Publishing flaw exposed 1,500+ npm packages to takeover Bloom Security researchers found that npm’s Trusted Publishing feature let an attacker push new versions of someone else’s package without stealing a credential.

CVE-2026-97229 is an integer overflow vulnerability in GitLab’s CI/CD Regular Expression Compiler, and it affects both GitLab Community Edition (CE) and Enterprise Edition (EE).

What changed

On October 12, 2026, GitLab released 19.4.2 , 19.3.5 , and 19.2.8 to fix CVE-2026-97229 , an integer overflow in its CI/CD regular-expression handling.

Hidden implant in Ledger hardware wallets linked to $93M theft Three days after customers in Southeast Asia began reporting drained wallets, Ledger says the damage is limited.

Who is affected

GitLab admins urged to patch critical RCE flaw (CVE-2026-97229) GitLab is urging users of self-managed instances to patch a critical vulnerability (CVE-2026-97229) in its CI/CD Regular Expression Compiler that could allow remote attackers to execute arbitrary code on GitLab servers.

On October 11, Yandex Cloud told its customers that the platform was running in emergency mode and advised them to switch to their own disaster recovery plans, after a drone attack shut down the company’s data center in Vladimir.

Why it matters

Bloom counted more than 1,500 npm packages exposed this way, and GitHub, which owns npm, says it has shipped fixes.

CVE-2026-96951 is a command injection vulnerability in Windows Shell that can be triggered by remote attackers via a file that is designed to exploit the vulnerability.

Technical details

Microsoft fixes exploited Mark of the Web bypass vulnerability (CVE-2026-96951) In another record-breaking Patch Tuesday, Microsoft has squashed over 1,400 security bugs, including a Mark of the Web bypass vulnerability (CVE-2026-96951) exploited by attackers in the wild.

The advisory states that CVE-2026-97229 affects GitLab CE and EE from 19.2 before 19.2.8 , 19.3 before 19.3.5 , and 19.4 before 19.4.2 .

FBI raids 40+ laptop farms helping North Korea pocket US tech salaries North Korean IT workers used stolen and fabricated identities to land remote jobs at more than 70 US companies, with help from Americans who allegedly kept company-issued laptops running from their homes, according to the US Department of Justice.

Response

OpenAI engineer arrested for allegedly trying to eavesdrop on executive meetings A recording device wrapped in toilet paper and plugged into the back of a television in an executive conference room at OpenAI’s San Francisco office has led to the arrest of one of the company’s engineers.

Box is in developer preview and runs on Macs with Apple silicon, with Linux support planned.

What security teams should do

Windows PCs missing key updates could lose security fixes in 2027 Microsoft is advising users and businesses to update Windows devices before digital certificates used to verify Windows Update servers expire in May and June 2027.

In its 72-hour update on X on October 11, the Paris-based hardware wallet maker said “all confirmed cases related to the disclosed draining incident of Oct 9th, 2026, involve devices sold through the Southeast Asia reseller CryptoBilis.” Cyberattacks hit European grocers: French supermarket freezers hijacked, Dutch and Belgian stores disrupted European food retailers have been affected by two separate disruptive cyberattacks: In France, several supermarket chains have had their fridges and freezers tampered with and chilled/frozen products destroyed, while in the Netherlands and Belgium workers at stores owned by Dutch multinational Ahold Delhaize have been dealing with disruption resulting from an unspecified “security issue”.

Attribution

Help Net Security: Here’s an overview of some of last week’s most interesting news, articles, interviews and videos: Strands Box: Open-source sandbox for AI agents AWS released Strands Box, an open source sandbox for AI agents that pairs operating-system isolation with rules that can weigh what an agent has already done before letting it act again.

Rapid7: On October 12, 2026, GitLab released 19.4.2 , 19.3.5 , and 19.2.8 to fix CVE-2026-97229 , an integer overflow in its CI/CD regular-expression handling.

What to watch next

Watch for new exploitation reports and updated indicators of compromise.

Watch for updated vendor guidance and fixed-version details.