Tensorlake npm Attack and the GitHub Token Revocation Trap

On October 8, 2026, a compromised repo admin account pushed malicious commits into the real Tensorlake SDK, and the project's own pipeline published them to npm as [email protected].

A single install hook ran a payload built to steal developer credentials, including GitHub and npm tokens, and spread through other projects. The nastiest twist was that, for some stolen GitHub tokens, it set up a background monitor that tries to delete the user's files if the token is revoked.

In this episode of The Weak Link, we break down how malicious code made it through a legitimate build pipeline, why accurate provenance didn't mean the code was safe, how to tell whether the install script actually ran, and how to remove the threat and rotate credentials without making the damage worse.