GitHub tightens npm publishing configuration to prevent package hijacking
In October 2026, GitHub tightened the npm trusted publishing mechanism: newly created trusted publishing configurations expire if they do not complete a first successful publish within 48 hours. This move targets the vulnerability SlugFest discovered by Bloom Security, where attackers can claim repository slugs that maintainers have renamed, transferred, or deleted, inheriting their trust relationships and thereby publishing malicious versions under legitimate package names. The researchers found more than 1,500 affected packages with a combined download count exceeding 10 million, and reported this to GitHub on June 6, 2026.