4 ms·

2FA for such high profile packages should be enforced

jsheard 1y ago
It is, if your packages are popular enough then npm will force you to enable 2FA. They started doing that a few years ago. It clearly doesn't stop everything though, the big attack yesterday went through 2FA by tricking the author into doing a "2FA reset".
- frizlab 1y ago
  Passkeys should be enforced
  - frizlab 1y ago
    I take the downvote but I’d like to know why? Passkeys are effectively and objectively a better security solution than password+2FA. Among other things, they are completely unfishable.
    - cesarb 1y ago
      > Among other things, they are completely unfishable. From what I've heard, they're also unbackupable, and tied to the ecosystem used to create them (so if you started with an Apple desktop, you can't later migrate the passkeys to a Windows desktop, you have to go to every single site you've ever used and create new ones).
      - smw 1y ago
        You can't really backup hardware tokens, either? It's quite possible to use something like bitwarden/vaultwarden/1password as a password manager, and you can "backup" tokens quite easily without being tied to a particular mobile/desktop ecosystem.
      - frizlab 1y ago
        That’s not true anymore; you can migrate passkeys to another password manager now.
      - yawaramin 1y ago
        You can just create a new passkey on the new device after logging in. It's a non-issue.
        3eb7988a1663 1y ago
        It is not a given that multiple services let you enroll multiple keys. How many year did it take before Amazon allowed multiple Yubikeys? Which means you are in a real pickle if you ever lose your one hardware device with keys (lost, stolen, bricked, whatever).
        yawaramin 1y ago
        It's an incorrect implementation, the same as when eg an account provider truncates a long password to 8 characters.
  - smw 1y ago
    Parent is exactly right! For critical infrastructure an un-phishable 2fa mechanism like passkeys or hardware token (FIDO2/yubikey) should be required! It would remove this category of attack completely.
- diggan 1y ago
  > It is, if your packages are popular enough then npm will force you to enable 2FA. Are they actively forcing it? I've received the "Remember to enable 2FA" email notifications from NPM since 2022 I think, but haven't bothered since I'm not longer publishing packages/updates. Besides, the email conveniently mentions their "automation" tokens as well, which when used for publishing updates, bypasses 2FA fully.
  - jsheard 1y ago
    Did you ever get this email? https://old.reddit.com/r/node/comments/xftu7i/comment/iooabny/ https://old.reddit.com/r/node/comments/xftu7i/comment/iooabn...
koakuma-chan 1y ago
He would have entered 2FA too
skeeter2020 1y ago
for popular packages - and in this case - they are. This attack (and yesterday's) are relay attacks, with the attacker in the middle between npm and the target.

It is, if your packages are popular enough then npm will force you to enable 2FA. They started doing that a few years ago. It clearly doesn't stop everything though, the big attack yesterday went through 2FA by tricking the author into doing a "2FA reset".

frizlab 1y ago
Passkeys should be enforced
- frizlab 1y ago
  I take the downvote but I’d like to know why? Passkeys are effectively and objectively a better security solution than password+2FA. Among other things, they are completely unfishable.
  - cesarb 1y ago
    > Among other things, they are completely unfishable. From what I've heard, they're also unbackupable, and tied to the ecosystem used to create them (so if you started with an Apple desktop, you can't later migrate the passkeys to a Windows desktop, you have to go to every single site you've ever used and create new ones).
    - smw 1y ago
      You can't really backup hardware tokens, either? It's quite possible to use something like bitwarden/vaultwarden/1password as a password manager, and you can "backup" tokens quite easily without being tied to a particular mobile/desktop ecosystem.
    - frizlab 1y ago
      That’s not true anymore; you can migrate passkeys to another password manager now.
    - yawaramin 1y ago
      You can just create a new passkey on the new device after logging in. It's a non-issue.
      - 3eb7988a1663 1y ago
        It is not a given that multiple services let you enroll multiple keys. How many year did it take before Amazon allowed multiple Yubikeys? Which means you are in a real pickle if you ever lose your one hardware device with keys (lost, stolen, bricked, whatever).
        yawaramin 1y ago
        It's an incorrect implementation, the same as when eg an account provider truncates a long password to 8 characters.
- smw 1y ago
  Parent is exactly right! For critical infrastructure an un-phishable 2fa mechanism like passkeys or hardware token (FIDO2/yubikey) should be required! It would remove this category of attack completely.
diggan 1y ago
> It is, if your packages are popular enough then npm will force you to enable 2FA. Are they actively forcing it? I've received the "Remember to enable 2FA" email notifications from NPM since 2022 I think, but haven't bothered since I'm not longer publishing packages/updates. Besides, the email conveniently mentions their "automation" tokens as well, which when used for publishing updates, bypasses 2FA fully.
- jsheard 1y ago
  Did you ever get this email? https://old.reddit.com/r/node/comments/xftu7i/comment/iooabny/ https://old.reddit.com/r/node/comments/xftu7i/comment/iooabn...

koakuma-chan 1y ago

He would have entered 2FA too

skeeter2020 1y ago

for popular packages - and in this case - they are. This attack (and yesterday's) are relay attacks, with the attacker in the middle between npm and the target.