Attacker used a leaked GitHub token to inject data-wiping commands into Amazon Q's VS Code extension release

AWS / Amazon Q Developer for VS Code users·Amazon Q Developer for Visual Studio Code ExtensionFixed

A threat actor obtained an inappropriately scoped GitHub token in the extension's CodeBuild configuration and used it to commit malicious 'wiper'-style code into the open-source repository, which was then automatically packaged into release version 1.84.0 and distributed to users.

Blast radius

Version 1.84.0 of the extension shipped with the malicious code embedded, but AWS determined a syntax error prevented it from executing, so no customer environments or services were altered.

Root cause

An overly broad CI/CD credential (GitHub token) allowed an outside actor to commit directly into the release pipeline of an AI coding agent extension.

How it was caught

Caught by AWS Security during investigation of a related bulletin (AWS-2025-016), after the compromised version had already been released.

What changed

AWS revoked the leaked credentials, removed the malicious code, pulled 1.84.0 from distribution, and shipped patched version 1.85.0.

Take-awayScope CI/CD tokens tightly and audit them for agent-tooling repos, since a single leaked token can inject destructive commands straight into an agent's shipped binary.