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darkwi11ow • yesterday at 12:22 PM • 2 replies • view on HN

Yeah OpenVSX security is a joke, they also have dumb search algorithm which allows for easy squatting of similar-looking extension names so they show up in search first when you look for official extensions. There were quite a few prominent hacks done that way. I think Microsoft likes OpenVSX situation because it allows them to claim their proprietary VSCode marketplace to be more secure.


Replies

tyingq • yesterday at 1:49 PM

Vscode(ium) extensions are also pretty weak security wise in general. There's little guardrails on what an extension can do.

On publishing, I do see that the MS marketplace has much better typosquatting and rogue publisher protection. It's unclear to me how much better their SAST/scanning is than OpenVSX. Both have something, but both have been fooled many times, and recently.

AdrianCX • yesterday at 12:28 PM

Then why even allow employees to use that?

Binance got a pretty expensive lesson if that was the cause for their recent hack

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