These fake GitHub "security alerts" could actually let hackers hijack your account

A fish hook is lying across a computer keyboard, representing a phishing attack on a computer system

(Image credit: weerapatkiatdumrong / Getty Images)

Security researchers spot new phishing campaign targeting GitHub users
A fake "security alert" GitHub account was notifying users of suspicious logins
The links in the notification all point to a shady app

Cybercriminals are faking security alerts on GitHub to get unsuspecting users to install malicious applications and lose their work, experts have warned.

A security researcher alias “LC4M” discovered the campaign and shared a detailed explanation in a short X thread, noting the attackers created a GitHub account called “GitHub Notification”, and then opened an issue to a “well known security repo” stating “Security Alert: Unusual Access Attempt”.

“We have detected a login attempt on your GitHub account that appears to be from a new location or device,” the fake alert reads. “If you recognize this activity, no further action is required. However, if this was not you, we strongly recommend securing your account immediately.”

OAuth app

The alert states the login attempt came from Reykjavik, Iceland, and shares links where users can update their password, review and manage active sessions, and even enable two-factor authentication (2FA).

However, all of the links lead to a GitHub authorization page for an OAuth app called “gitsecurityapp”. This app requests numerous permissions, including those that grant full access to public and private repositories, the ability to read and write to the user profile, access to GitHub gists, the permission to delete repositories, and more.

The researcher updated his thread to say that at least 8,000 GitHub repositories were targeted. However, a BleepingComputer report puts the number of targets at 12,000.

If you were targeted by this campaign, and ended up granting the permissions, you should revoke the access as soon as possible, and after that - rotate your credentials and authentication tokens just to be on the safe side.

LC4M could not confidently attribute the campaign to any known threat actor, but they do have their suspicions: “Smells DPKR?” they said, suggesting that this might be the work of North Korean state-sponsored threat actors.

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Sead is a seasoned freelance journalist based in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. He writes about IT (cloud, IoT, 5G, VPN) and cybersecurity (ransomware, data breaches, laws and regulations). In his career, spanning more than a decade, he’s written for numerous media outlets, including Al Jazeera Balkans. He’s also held several modules on content writing for Represent Communications.