this post was submitted on 31 Jul 2026
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Arch Linux AUR Under Another Wave Of Malicious Packages, Package Adoptions Halted (www.phoronix.com)
submitted 3 days ago by KarnaSubarna@lemmy.ml to c/linux@lemmy.ml
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[–] Vendetta9076@sh.itjust.works 1 points 19 hours ago

I feel like when this pops up everyone freaks out and yells about how it's proof the aur sucks and arch is doomed. Do you people randomly install GitHub repos without any due diligence? Do you click on random ads to download bake bean can cursors? There's malware fuckin everywhere. Just do your due diligence and don't get screwed. And if you do get malware, have a plan to make it irrelevant. Anyone who doesn't do these things should in no way be using the AUR.

[–] Asonyxi@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Man I feel like I dodged a bullet switching to Fedora right before this AUR fuckery started to happen...

[–] motruck@lemmy.zip 10 points 1 day ago (2 children)

You don't have to use AUR to use Arch. Just like PPA for Ubuntu or Fedora's Copr.

[–] chortle_tortle@mander.xyz 1 points 8 minutes ago

Sure, but as a user it seems like a non-trivial number of packages are only on the AUR vs other distros.

[–] Scrollone@feddit.it 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I wonder if Ubuntu PPAs are also compromised

[–] motruck@lemmy.zip 3 points 1 day ago

The chances malicious packages live in PPA now is quite high. Perhaps their adoption procedures are not conducive to the same type of attack AUR is experiencing.

[–] SocialistVibes01@lemmy.ml 8 points 2 days ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (6 children)

I use malware, btw 😎

Arch should be stopped to be recommended to new users of Linux ASAP

[–] kylian0087@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 6 hours ago (1 children)

Arch as far as I am aware has never been recommended to new users. Sure their is CachyOS and other variants. And on top of that AUR you shut read the build scripts. But I suppose not many people do that unfortunately.

[–] SocialistVibes01@lemmy.ml 1 points 16 minutes ago

It's trend between kids going for an "advanced" distro

[–] Sanctus@anarchist.nexus 1 points 19 hours ago

You have to go download an AUR helper to even get into the AUR, it does not come by default on Arch systems. You have to actually do this to yourself to get the malware.

[–] JamesBoeing737MAX@sopuli.xyz 16 points 2 days ago

Well, just don't use AUR for everything. They don't even recommend helpers. It's ment to be tedious, to discourage usage for non-necesarry bullshit.

[–] peetabix@sh.itjust.works 9 points 2 days ago (2 children)

Is anybody really recommending Arch to new users though?

[–] bleustenns@lemmy.ml 8 points 2 days ago (2 children)

Yeah, there's a ton of people that recommend Cachy when it is really meant for tinkerers IMHO

[–] LordKitsuna@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I'm very tired of the rhetoric that Arch is only meant for tinkerers. If all you do is have plasma steam and a web browser it's no more or less likely to break than any other distro. You could go your entire life without ever looking at the terminal.

And while yes this malware is a problem it is specifically in the aur, the arch user repository an unofficial repository not officially supported, just don't use it. Unless you need a weird piece of software generally related to some type of specific hobby you're unlikely to ever even want to look at it anyway.

[–] bleustenns@lemmy.ml 1 points 8 hours ago (1 children)

I do agree with this in theory. I just don't know many 'normal people' that are going to only ever require those three things. (Totally with you on the AUR bit)

[–] LordKitsuna@lemmy.world 1 points 7 hours ago

Really? If anything I have the opposite problem all the normal people I'm aware of probably don't even need steam just the web browser and plasma. Pretty much everything is in the web browser these days I mean they might want the dedicated discord client but that's ultimately just a web browser in a box and will also work perfectly no AUR required

[–] peetabix@sh.itjust.works 1 points 2 days ago

I suppose so. I run Cachy now but that's only after 3 years of switching distros several times and getting more confident with how Linux works.

[–] SocialistVibes01@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

They have been as of late

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[–] Dirk@lemmy.ml 28 points 3 days ago (2 children)

Adoptions are a mistake anyways. Remove unmaintained packages and block the name for several months.

[–] thingsiplay@lemmy.ml 39 points 3 days ago (8 children)

Adoption of unmaintained packages to maintain them is not a mistake. The problem is the current implementation, not the idea behind it. It's like saying the AUR is a mistake, because some people do malicious stuff.

They should find a better solution, like adoption shouldn't be granted to everyone without question, especially new accounts who didn't maintain anything before. Mass adoption shouldn't be granted automatically (limit rate), in example 1 package adoption per day and if someone wants more, admins or moderators need to approve. And updates of newly adopted packages should wait a day.

Also the AUR helpers should do a better job. Always ask if a new adopted package should be updated and give a warning the maintainer changed.

[–] Dirk@lemmy.ml 12 points 3 days ago (1 children)

The problem is the current implementation

Yes, exactly this! I am not surprised it happens. I’m surprised it didn’t happen before.

especially new accounts

Weren’t there “sleeper accounts” registered years ago that became active in the current wave?

Also the AUR helpers should do a better job.

Even experienced people will just update as if nothing could happen. Adopted packages should have to use a different name and the current name being blocked so it WILL get attention when some tries to update their system.

[–] thingsiplay@lemmy.ml 4 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

Weren’t there “sleeper accounts” registered years ago that became active in the current wave?

Which does not invalidate my point about new accounts, but yes. Its important for new accounts, so once a sleeper account is banned, its not that easy to just create thousands of new accounts while everyone is focusing on the current active ones. And if, as I suggested, mass adoption per account is not possible, then the attacker has less to attack.

Edit: They need to make sure that sudden editing many packages in short time, with probably the same or similar lines should be automatically reported. They need some automated checks in place, at the very least. This would be a very suspicious behavior if many accounts are not active, and then suddenly all of them do something.

Even experienced people will just update as if nothing could happen.

Then you can't fault the system, if you are this reckless.

Adopted packages should have to use a different name and the current name being blocked so it WILL get attention when some tries to update their system.

This would break all dependencies of this package. The point of adoption is to keep it working and stable. I'm highly against force changing the name, that is not a solution (at least not one I am happy about).

[–] Dirk@lemmy.ml 5 points 2 days ago (1 children)

[Changing a package’s name] would break all dependencies of this package.

Yes, that is correct. But that should not be a big deal for packages that are actively maintained. The maintainer can simply change the dependency to the new name after making sure the new package is legit.

[–] thingsiplay@lemmy.ml 4 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

OK, that's a good point. It would prevent auto updating. However any package that is NOT updated, should stay with same name in my opinion. So that everything (with the old secure code) stays intact and working. The name change should be part of the the update process. So it only breaks if you want to update, which would ensure compatibility if you choose not to (as it is safe). Something along the likes like this. I agree with your suggestion now, because that seems to be sensible idea.

[–] trevor@lemmy.blahaj.zone 7 points 3 days ago

Enforced commit signing and making it obvious when the signature changes would help make adoption much safer. I really hope they implement it.

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[–] lemmyvore@feddit.nl 11 points 2 days ago (3 children)

Remove unmaintained packages and block the name for several months.

Alright, but that would mean most of AUR. Have a look at the package statistics box on the AUR homepage. Most packages fall under that definition in one way or another. The vast majority of the AUR is package some random person added once then never bothered with ever again.

Frankly I'm surprised that the AUR has survived for so long in its current form, for what is basically a shell script distribution system with zero supervision and zero safety guards.

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[–] LiveLM@lemmy.zip 9 points 2 days ago

Why tf didn't they leave it disabled since the last attack?

[–] daggermoon@piefed.world 4 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

Do I really need to audit my system again?

[–] tekdeb@lemmy.zip 10 points 2 days ago

Not if you follow the normal safety precautions for using the AUR. There are several things you can do to look for red flags, but the most essential thing is to read the PKGBUILDs. And helpers like yay, paru and Shelly can all show diffs which makes that much easier after the initial installation because in most cases you'll just see that the version and checksum has changed which means it's as trustworthy as last time.

This has always been the case, and will continue to be the case unless the Arch team restricts the AUR which quickly can make it lose exactly what makes it so good.

[–] eremophila@lemmy.zip 5 points 2 days ago (4 children)

friends don't let friends use the AUR

[–] alsimoneau@lemmy.ca 1 points 2 days ago (2 children)

What's the alternative?

[–] eremophila@lemmy.zip 4 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I only use official and flatpak, I wouldn't even use flatpak if official had more.

Chaotic aur might be worth looking into if aur is what you want. Everything there is theoretically checked.

[–] JC1@lemmy.ca 1 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Are you sure about chaotic? I removed it as I thought it wasn't really checked as I read in a comment here.

[–] eremophila@lemmy.zip 1 points 1 day ago

might be worth looking into

I'm not sure of anything, I would look into it further were I planning on using it, which I might do in the future, Garuda KDE lite looks like a decent distro.

From the little I have looked into it, it is all meant to be checked, adding an extra layer of protection, as long as your trust the people behind it (much like official I guess)

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