OpenAI is requiring all macOS users to update their OpenAI apps after a supply chain attack compromised a third-party developer library and exposed certificates used to verify the authenticity of the company's applications.
A North Korea-linked attack compromised a widely used developer library, exposing certificates used to sign OpenAI's macOS apps
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OpenAI is requiring all macOS users to update their OpenAI apps after a supply chain attack compromised a third-party developer library and exposed certificates used to verify the authenticity of the company's applications.
At the center of the breach was Axios, a JavaScript library with widespread adoption among developers. According to Forbes, tampered packages were uploaded to the npm registry on March 31, carrying remote access trojan malware. The window of exposure lasted roughly three hours before the packages were taken down. A targeted social engineering campaign gave the attacker a foothold on the lead maintainer's machine; from there, npm account credentials were stolen and used to push the poisoned packages. The attack is believed to be linked to North Korea.
One of those poisoned packages was pulled down and run by a GitHub Actions workflow operating within OpenAI's infrastructure, the company said. Certificates and notarization material tied to several macOS products — ChatGPT Desktop, Codex, Codex-cli, and Atlas — were accessible to that same workflow.
Based on an internal review that weighed the timing of the intrusion alongside other evidence, OpenAI assessed that the signing certificate was in all likelihood never successfully stolen. OpenAI further stated that nothing in its investigation pointed to unauthorized access to user data, tampering with its software, or theft of systems or intellectual property. User passwords and API keys remained secure throughout. OpenAI traced the underlying problem to a misconfiguration within the affected GitHub Actions workflow and said the issue has been corrected.
As a precautionary measure, OpenAI pulled and reissued the certificates its macOS apps rely on to prove their authenticity. That step requires all users to update to the latest versions of those apps. Users who do not update face a hard deadline: starting May 8, unpatched versions will be cut off from support and could cease to work.
The certificate rotation is less about an active threat and more about closing off even the remotest possibility that someone could exploit old signing material to pass off a counterfeit application as a genuine OpenAI product.
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