--- title: Cline Supply Chain Attack Detected: cline@2.3.0 Silently... description: A malicious version of the cline npm package (v2.3.0) was published on February 17, 2026, containing a post-install script that silently installed openclaw... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/cline-supply-chain-attack-detected-cline-2-3-0-silently-installs-openclaw-njpsbh4xk twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Cline Supply Chain Attack Detected: cline@2.3.0 Silently Installs OpenClaw | daily.dev og:description: A malicious version of the cline npm package (v2.3.0) was published on February 17, 2026, containing a post-install script that silently installed openclaw... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/cline-supply-chain-attack-detected-cline-2-3-0-silently-installs-openclaw-njpsbh4xk og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/NJpSBh4XK.png og:image:alt: Cline Supply Chain Attack Detected: cline@2.3.0 Silently Installs OpenClaw og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Cline Supply Chain Attack Detected: cline@2.3.0 Silently Installs OpenClaw **[StepSecurity](https://daily.dev/sources/stepsecurity)** · 8 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary A malicious version of the cline npm package (v2.3.0) was published on February 17, 2026, containing a post-install script that silently installed openclaw globally on victim machines. The attack was detected by StepSecurity's npm monitoring system within minutes due to two red flags: the package was published manually by a user account instead of via GitHub Actions OIDC Trusted Publishing, and it lacked npm provenance attestations. Approximately 4,000 downloads occurred before maintainers deprecated the version ~8 hours later. OpenClaw installs a persistent daemon with broad system access, enabling credential theft, arbitrary command execution, and a persistent backdoor. Remediation steps include upgrading to cline@2.4.0+, removing openclaw, and using tools like StepSecurity's Harden-Runner and Artifact Monitor to detect future incidents. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Cline CLI npm Package Compromised via Suspected Cache Poison...](https://daily.dev/posts/cline-cli-npm-package-compromised-via-suspected-cache-poison--tjo4h7drs) · Socket · 2 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#security](https://daily.dev/tags/security), [#cicd](https://daily.dev/tags/cicd), [#malware](https://daily.dev/tags/malware), [#npm](https://daily.dev/tags/npm) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/cline-supply-chain-attack-detected-cline-2-3-0-silently-installs-openclaw-njpsbh4xk) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"Cline Supply Chain Attack Detected: cline@2.3.0 Silently Installs OpenClaw","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/cline-supply-chain-attack-detected-cline-2-3-0-silently-installs-openclaw-njpsbh4xk","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/cline-supply-chain-attack-detected-cline-2-3-0-silently-installs-openclaw-njpsbh4xk"},"datePublished":"2026-03-31T12:25:37.524Z","dateModified":"2026-03-31T12:31:31.485Z","description":"A malicious version of the cline npm package (v2.3.0) was published on February 17, 2026, containing a post-install script that silently installed openclaw...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/fcd47b2e0d23be53ffe89872af72faf7?_a=AQAEuop","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/fcd47b2e0d23be53ffe89872af72faf7?_a=AQAEuop","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"StepSecurity","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"StepSecurity","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--vegWii-S--/f_auto,q_auto/v1774959924/logos/stepsecurity?_a=BAMAMiWQ0","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/stepsecurity"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/cline-supply-chain-attack-detected-cline-2-3-0-silently-installs-openclaw-njpsbh4xk","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":0},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"security,cicd,malware,npm","timeRequired":"PT8M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"StepSecurity","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/stepsecurity"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Cline Supply Chain Attack Detected: cline@2.3.0 Silently Installs OpenClaw"}]} ```