Malicious git hooks found in take‑home interview projects

CITIZENDOT’s investigation found that several take‑home interview projects ship malicious Git hooks that exfiltrate SSH keys, credential files, and other sensitive data from a candidate’s machine [CITIZENDOT].

What the hooks do

The hooks are placed in the repository’s .git/hooks directory and masquerade as legitimate build or dependency scripts. When a candidate runs the project’s setup script, the hook executes automatically, contacts an attacker‑controlled server, and uploads the stolen files. In some cases the hook also drops additional malware, granting the attacker persistent remote access.

Why it matters

The attack targets engineers during the hiring process, a moment when they are likely to run untrusted code without the usual security checks. By compromising a candidate’s development environment, attackers can harvest credentials that grant access to other repositories, cloud accounts, and internal tools. This creates a direct supply‑chain risk that extends beyond the individual to any organization the candidate later joins.

Mitigation steps

• Run interview code inside an isolated VM or container and discard the environment after the interview.
• Inspect the .git/hooks directory before executing any setup script; remove unknown hooks.
• Adopt a vetted, read‑only hook repository for all interview projects.

These practices limit the attack surface and prevent malicious hooks from reaching a developer’s primary workstation. [CITIZENDOT]