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by rubnogueira 37 days ago
aube (npm/yarn/pnpm drop-in alternative) now has a "jailBuilds" flag that restricts access to network/filesystem access.

https://aube.en.dev/package-manager/jailed-builds.html

But this feels like a cat/mouse game.

2 comments

> aube (npm/yarn/pnpm drop-in alternative) now has a "jailBuilds" flag that restricts access to network/filesystem access.

1. It seems like the restrictions are only for lifecycle scripts, so wouldn't help if/when the package's actual code had malicious code inserted?

2. Package managers like pnpm seem to entirely block lifecycle scripts by default, so I guess this is an in-between solution.

Still, I guess it's a step in the right direction for those want or need to run lifecycle scripts specifically.

1. the supply chain attacks I've seen are naive. They just leverage postinstall hooks. Malicious code also needs to be executed, not simply installed, so it's a lot less likely that an exploit would happen compared to postinstall since it can't just be buried in a transitive.

2. aube does the same. This is an extra level of protection if you've already whitelisted a package

dino was wired with security in mind, but you can see developers dont tend towards aecurity
Because there is a time and effort cost to swap over to another framework/runtime even if it brings benefits, and security is always considered "good for now" unfortunately.

That is what made Bun popular, and tools like uv/pip, oxlint/eslint, orbstack/docker desktop, and the list goes on. Drop-in replacements where we get 10x with little effort.

Because employers don't tend towards security. In fact, many actively punish somebody for "sandbagging" or simply taking too long if they even suggest a security concern.
What is dino?