Supply-chain Threat Database

arcis sca ships with 100 curated supply-chain advisories embedded in the binary. Browse what we cover, see how new entries get added, and understand how the OSV layer extends it.

Coverage summary

Attack classes covered

• Maintainer-credential compromise. Stolen npm/PyPI account tokens push trojanized versions to an otherwise-legit package. (event-stream, ua-parser-js, rc, faker, peacenotwar.)
• Trojanized dependency. A legit package adds a malicious sub-dependency via a release update. (axios 2026 via plain-crypto-js, event-stream via flatmap-stream.)
• Typosquat. Package name one letter off from a popular target, ships exfiltration logic on install. (colourama vs colorama, crossenv vs cross-env, babelcli vs babel-cli, torchtriton vs torch-triton.)
• Persistent backdoors. Install scripts drop .pth files in Python site-packages or run postinstall hooks that survive package uninstall. (litellm 2026, crossenv.)
• Wallet hijack. Targets crypto wallet apps via Solana / Ethereum sub-libraries. (@solana/web3.js, several typosquats.)
• Protestware. Maintainer self-sabotage that ships empty or destructive code as a political statement. (faker, peacenotwar / node-ipc.)
• ReDoS in dependency trees. Regex DoS introduced through a transitive update. (Several entries.)
• HTTP request-smuggling and parser DoS. Crafted input triggers worst-case parsing in HTTP libs. (Several npm entries.)

Notable advisories

A representative slice. Run arcis sca --list-threats to dump the full list with severities, malicious versions, and source URLs.

Entry schema

Every entry in threat-db.json follows this shape:

{
  "ecosystem": "npm",           // "npm" | "pypi"
  "name": "axios",
  "malicious_versions": ["1.14.1", "0.30.4"],
  "vulnerable_ranges": [],
  "attack_vector": "Trojanized dependency plain-crypto-js@4.2.1 deploys a remote access trojan...",
  "severity": "critical",     // "critical" | "high" | "medium"
  "cve": "no-cve-assigned",
  "disclosure_date": "2026-03-12",
  "source": "npm Security Advisory",
  "references": ["https://github.com/axios/axios/security/advisories/..."],
  "trojanized_deps": ["plain-crypto-js@4.2.1"],
  "persistence_artifacts": [],          // e.g. .pth files for Python
  "remediation": "pin axios to 1.13.x or 0.30.3; audit lockfile for plain-crypto-js"
}

How detection works

For each lockfile or manifest arcis sca walks the dependency tree (including transitive deps) and looks up every (ecosystem, name, version) tuple in the embedded DB. A match against either malicious_versions or a vulnerable_ranges entry triggers a finding with severity, attack class, remediation, and the full path-to-root through the dep tree.

For Python, --system also walks site-packages for .pth files matching known persistence artifacts (an entry in persistence_artifacts).

OSV layer

The embedded DB is curated and stays small (advisories worth a hand-written entry). For breadth, pass --osv and the scanner also queries osv.dev for each package found in your lockfiles and merges its findings on top of the embedded results.

arcis sca .                # embedded DB only (offline)
arcis sca . --osv          # + live OSV.dev advisories
arcis sca . --no-cache     # bypass the 24h OSV cache

Responses are cached at ~/.arcis/osv-cache.json with a 24h TTL. --osv is the only flag in the CLI that touches the network; everything else runs fully offline.

Contributing a new entry

1. Open the source advisory (GHSA, PyPI advisory, OSV record, or a credible blog post that names versions).
2. Add an entry to threat-db.json following the schema above. Severity, malicious versions, attack vector, and at least one reference URL are required.
3. Run cargo test --package arcis-engine to validate the schema.
4. Open a PR to nwl. CI verifies the JSON shape and runs the SCA test suite against the fixtures.

False positives and dropping a finding

If arcis sca flags a package you have already addressed (pinned to a safe version inside a malicious range, vendored the patched source, etc.) you can suppress it via a baseline file:

arcis sca . --baseline ./.arcis-sca-baseline.json

The baseline schema mirrors the audit baseline. Findings already in the baseline are reported as baseline and do not affect the exit code.