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Malicious JetBrains Marketplace plugins steal AI API keys from developers

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Why This Matters

A coordinated campaign of malicious JetBrains Marketplace plugins has been discovered, stealing AI API keys from nearly 70,000 users. These plugins, masquerading as AI coding tools, secretly exfiltrate sensitive credentials and potentially provide stolen keys to paying customers, posing significant security risks for developers and organizations relying on AI integrations. This highlights the ongoing threat of supply chain attacks in software development environments and the need for heightened vigilance.

Key Takeaways

At least 15 malicious plugins found on the JetBrains Marketplace were designed to steal AI API keys from developers.

The campaign, discovered by Aikido Security, includes plugins that act as AI coding assistants, code-review tools, and Git utilities powered by popular AI services such as OpenAI, DeepSeek, and SiliconFlow.

"We detected a coordinated malware campaign on the JetBrains Marketplace," warns Aikido.

"At least 15 IDE plugins, published under seven vendor accounts, share the same hidden behavior. Each one exfiltrates the AI provider API key that you stored into its settings, and together they have been installed close to 70,000 times."

According to Aikido, the malicious plugins were first published in October 2025, with new plugins continuing to be published as recently as June 10, 2026.

The researchers say the plugins function as advertised, but secretly transmit AI API keys entered by users into the plugin settings back to the attackers.

According to the report, the theft occurs when a user clicks "Apply" after entering an API key, causing the credential to be sent to a hardcoded server at 39.107.60[.]51 over HTTP at this URL:

hxxp://39.107.60[.]51/api/software/key

The researchers found that all 15 plugins share similar code that were submitted as different Marketplace plugins.

Aikido also discovered functionality that allows the remote server to provide AI API keys to paid users.

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