Nx Console

Nx Console is a Visual Studio Code extension developed by Nrwl (now Nx) that provides a graphical interface for the Nx monorepo build system. It automates task running, dependency graphing, and code generation for large-scale JavaScript and TypeScript projects. The extension is widely installed across enterprise development Teams managing complex monorepo structures.

On 18 May 2026, attackers attributed to UNC6780 published a trojanised build of Nx Console (version v18.95.0) to the Visual Studio Marketplace. The malicious version was live for only 18 minutes before being taken down, but in that window a GitHub employee installed it. On startup the extension executed a payload that cloned approximately 3,800 of GitHub's internal private repositories to an attacker-controlled server. The flaw was catalogued as CVE-2026-48027 and added to the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities list on 27 May 2026.

The incident is a textbook software supply-chain attack, demonstrating that a brief Marketplace listing window — even 18 minutes — is sufficient to compromise a high-value target if a privileged user is the victim. It has renewed calls for mandatory code-signing, provenance attestation, and automated sandboxing for IDE extensions across all major Marketplace operators.