HUNDREDS of GitHub accounts were accessed using credentials stolen in the VS Code GlassWorm campaign, with threat actors abusing these credentials to hack Python repositories, according to StepSecurity reports. The campaign likely began on 8 March, targeting Python projects such as Django apps, ML research code, PyPI packages and Streamlit dashboards, with the aim of cryptocurrency theft and stealing sensitive information.
Using compromised developer credentials, the attackers rebased the latest legitimate commits on the default branch, inserted obfuscated malicious code, and force-pushed the commits, a technique termed ForceMemo by StepSecurity.
The malware checks the system and skips machines with the language set to Russian, and it reads instructions from a Solana blockchain address before fetching, decrypting and executing an encrypted JavaScript payload to create persistence; the address has had 50 transactions in total, with the earliest on 27 November 2025. SecurityWeek notes that hundreds of Python repositories across many GitHub accounts have been compromised in this ForceMemo campaign.
GlassWorm, which evaded detection via Unicode variation selectors, has capabilities to steal credentials and cryptocurrency, deploy SOCKS proxies, and provide remote access via hidden VNC servers, with recent activity expanding to OpenVSX, NPM and the VS Code marketplace.