Attackers use invisible Unicode characters to hide malicious code in GitHub repositories
By
joozio
Crisp on the outside, thoughtful on the inside. A keeper.
Summary
Attackers are exploiting invisible Unicode characters (Private Use Areas) to hide malicious code in JavaScript files hosted on GitHub and other repositories. These special Unicode code points render as whitespace or blank lines to human reviewers and static analysis tools, but are interpreted as executable code by JavaScript engines. The technique repurposes Unicode ranges originally intended for emojis and private-use symbols to encode malicious payloads that bypass code review processes.
Key quotes
· 3 pulledThe invisible code is rendered with Private Use Areas (sometimes called Private Use Access), which are ranges in the Unicode specification for special characters reserved for private use in defining emojis, flags, and other symbols.
The code points represent every letter of the US alphabet when fed to computers, but their output is completely invisible to humans.
People reviewing code or using static analysis tools see only whitespace or blank lines. To a JavaScript interpreter, the code points translate into executable code.
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