Slopsquatting Attacks: How AI Phantom Dependencies Create Security Risks
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<div class="hs-featured-image-wrapper"> <a href="https://www.contrastsecurity.com/security-influencers/slopsquatting-attacks-how-ai-phantom-dependencies-create-security-risks" title="" class="hs-featured-image-link"> <img decoding="async" src="https://www.contrastsecurity.com/hubfs/project-27-1757453616-flux-1.jpg" alt="Slopsquatting Attacks: How AI Phantom Dependencies Create Security Risks" class="hs-featured-image" style="width:auto !important; max-width:50%; float:left; margin:0 15px 15px 0;"> </a> </div><h2>TL;DR</h2><p>AI coding assistants can hallucinate package names, creating phantom dependencies that don’t exist in official repositories. Attackers exploit this predictable behavior through slopsquatting, which involves registering malicious packages with names that AI models commonly suggest. This emerging supply chain attack requires new <span style="color: #38b885;"><a href="https://www.contrastsecurity.com/detection-and-response" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #38b885;">detection approaches</a></span> focused on behavioral analysis to complement existing security tools.</p><p><img decoding="async" src="https://track.hubspot.com/__ptq.gif?a=203759&k=14&r=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.contrastsecurity.com%2Fsecurity-influencers%2Fslopsquatting-attacks-how-ai-phantom-dependencies-create-security-risks&bu=https%253A%252F%252Fwww.contrastsecurity.com%252Fsecurity-influencers&bvt=rss" alt="" width="1" height="1" style="min-height:1px!important;width:1px!important;border-width:0!important;margin-top:0!important;margin-bottom:0!important;margin-right:0!important;margin-left:0!important;padding-top:0!important;padding-bottom:0!important;padding-right:0!important;padding-left:0!important; "></p><div class="code-block code-block-13" style="margin: 8px 0; clear: both;"> <style> .ai-rotate {position: relative;} .ai-rotate-hidden {visibility: hidden;} .ai-rotate-hidden-2 {position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%;} .ai-list-data, .ai-ip-data, .ai-filter-check, .ai-fallback, .ai-list-block, .ai-list-block-ip, .ai-list-block-filter {visibility: hidden; position: absolute; width: 50%; height: 1px; top: -1000px; z-index: -9999; margin: 0px!important;} .ai-list-data, .ai-ip-data, .ai-filter-check, .ai-fallback {min-width: 1px;} </style> <div class="ai-rotate ai-unprocessed ai-timed-rotation ai-13-1" data-info="WyIxMy0xIiwxXQ==" style="position: relative;"> <div class="ai-rotate-option" style="visibility: hidden;" data-index="1" data-name="U2hvcnQ=" data-time="MTA="> <div class="custom-ad"> <div style="margin: auto; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.techstrongevents.com/cruisecon-virtual-west-2025/home?ref=in-article-ad-2&utm_source=sb&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=in-article-ad-2" target="_blank"><img src="https://securityboulevard.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Banner-770x330-social-1.png" alt="Cruise Con 2025"></a></div> <div class="clear-custom-ad"></div> </div></div> </div> </div><div class="spu-placeholder" style="display:none"></div><div class="addtoany_share_save_container addtoany_content addtoany_content_bottom"><div class="a2a_kit a2a_kit_size_20 addtoany_list" data-a2a-url="https://securityboulevard.com/2025/10/slopsquatting-attacks-how-ai-phantom-dependencies-create-security-risks/" data-a2a-title="Slopsquatting Attacks: How AI Phantom Dependencies Create Security Risks"><a class="a2a_button_twitter" href="https://www.addtoany.com/add_to/twitter?linkurl=https%3A%2F%2Fsecurityboulevard.com%2F2025%2F10%2Fslopsquatting-attacks-how-ai-phantom-dependencies-create-security-risks%2F&linkname=Slopsquatting%20Attacks%3A%20How%20AI%20Phantom%20Dependencies%20Create%20Security%20Risks" title="Twitter" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank"></a><a class="a2a_button_linkedin" href="https://www.addtoany.com/add_to/linkedin?linkurl=https%3A%2F%2Fsecurityboulevard.com%2F2025%2F10%2Fslopsquatting-attacks-how-ai-phantom-dependencies-create-security-risks%2F&linkname=Slopsquatting%20Attacks%3A%20How%20AI%20Phantom%20Dependencies%20Create%20Security%20Risks" title="LinkedIn" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank"></a><a class="a2a_button_facebook" href="https://www.addtoany.com/add_to/facebook?linkurl=https%3A%2F%2Fsecurityboulevard.com%2F2025%2F10%2Fslopsquatting-attacks-how-ai-phantom-dependencies-create-security-risks%2F&linkname=Slopsquatting%20Attacks%3A%20How%20AI%20Phantom%20Dependencies%20Create%20Security%20Risks" title="Facebook" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank"></a><a class="a2a_button_reddit" href="https://www.addtoany.com/add_to/reddit?linkurl=https%3A%2F%2Fsecurityboulevard.com%2F2025%2F10%2Fslopsquatting-attacks-how-ai-phantom-dependencies-create-security-risks%2F&linkname=Slopsquatting%20Attacks%3A%20How%20AI%20Phantom%20Dependencies%20Create%20Security%20Risks" title="Reddit" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank"></a><a class="a2a_button_email" href="https://www.addtoany.com/add_to/email?linkurl=https%3A%2F%2Fsecurityboulevard.com%2F2025%2F10%2Fslopsquatting-attacks-how-ai-phantom-dependencies-create-security-risks%2F&linkname=Slopsquatting%20Attacks%3A%20How%20AI%20Phantom%20Dependencies%20Create%20Security%20Risks" title="Email" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank"></a><a class="a2a_dd addtoany_share_save addtoany_share" href="https://www.addtoany.com/share"></a></div></div><p class="syndicated-attribution">*** This is a Security Bloggers Network syndicated blog from <a href="https://www.contrastsecurity.com/security-influencers">AppSec Observer</a> authored by <a href="https://securityboulevard.com/author/0/" title="Read other posts by Jake Milstein">Jake Milstein</a>. Read the original post at: <a href="https://www.contrastsecurity.com/security-influencers/slopsquatting-attacks-how-ai-phantom-dependencies-create-security-risks">https://www.contrastsecurity.com/security-influencers/slopsquatting-attacks-how-ai-phantom-dependencies-create-security-risks</a> </p>