The cost for access can be surprisingly low. Not all that many years ago it was pretty cheap to pay an editor at wiki or DMOZ or any of a few dozen other 'trusted sources' on the internet to get something added, or removed. I stopped traveling in those circles a long time ago, but I know that they are still very active and the cost is still surprisingly low.

While not code level access, these sorts of things are far more common than anyone wants to admit to.