Vercel’s security breach started with malware disguised as Roblox cheats
Vercel breach started with Lumma Stealer malware on Context.ai employee's computer.
Summary
Vercel customers were compromised after an attacker infected a Context.ai employee's computer with Lumma Stealer malware disguised as Roblox cheats in February. The attacker then leveraged Context.ai's compromised AWS environment and OAuth tokens to gain access to a Vercel employee's Google Workspace account, which had overly privileged permissions to Vercel systems. The breach exposed environment variables, credentials, access keys, source code, and databases for a limited number of Vercel customers.
Full text
Vercel customers are at risk of compromise after an attacker hopped through multiple internal systems to steal credentials and other sensitive data, the company said in a security bulletin Sunday. The attack, which didn’t originate at Vercel, showcases the pitfalls of interconnected cloud applications and SaaS integrations with overly privileged permissions. An attacker traversed third-party systems and connections left exposed by employees before it hit the San Francisco-based company that created and maintains Next.js and other popular open-source libraries. Researchers at Hudson Rock said the seeds of the attack were planted in February when a Context.ai employee’s computer was infected with Lumma Stealer malware after they searched for Roblox game exploits, a common vector for infostealer deployments. Each of the companies are pinning at least some blame for the attack on the other vendor. Context.ai on Sunday said that breach allowed the attacker to access its AWS environment and OAuth tokens for some users, including a token for a Vercel employee’s Google Workspace account. Vercel is not a Context customer, but the Vercel employee was using Context AI Office Suite and granted it full access, the artificial intelligence agent company said. “The attacker used that access to take over the employee’s Vercel Google Workspace account, which enabled them to gain access to some Vercel environments and environment variables that were not marked as sensitive,” Vercel said in its bulletin. The company said a limited number of its customers are impacted and were immediately advised to rotate credentials. The company, which declined to answer questions, did not specify which internal systems were accessed or fully explain how the attacker gained access to Vercel customers’ credentials. Vercel CEO Guillermo Rauch said customer data stored by the company is fully encrypted, yet the attacker got further access through enumeration, or by counting and inventorying specific variables. “We believe the attacking group to be highly sophisticated and, I strongly suspect, significantly accelerated by AI,” he said in a post on X. “They moved with surprising velocity and in-depth understanding of Vercel.” A threat group identifying themselves as ShinyHunters took responsibility for the attack in a post on Telegram and is attempting to sell the stolen data, which they claim includes access keys, source code and databases. The attacker “is likely an imposter attempting to use an established name to inflate their notoriety,” Austin Larsen, principal threat analyst at Google Threat Intelligence, wrote in a LinkedIn post. “Regardless of the threat actor involved, the exposure risk is real.” Vercel also warned that the attack on Context’s Google Workspace OAuth app “was the subject of a broader compromise, potentially affecting its hundreds of users across many organizations.” It published indicators of compromise and encouraged customers to review activity logs, review and rotate variables containing secrets. Context and Vercel said their separate and coordinated investigations into the attack aided by CrowdStrike and Mandiant remain underway. Share Facebook LinkedIn Twitter Copy Link
Indicators of Compromise
- malware — Lumma Stealer