Campaign Proprietary 2019-01-01 · 2312 days ·Backdoor, Remote Access, Data Theft Potential

Magento extension vendors shipped license backdoors

Tigren, Meetanshi, and MGS extension downloads carried PHP license-check backdoors. Sansec found 21 affected Magento modules, with abuse active by April 2025.

Story

This is not a generic Magento backdoor record. Magento is an ecosystem, and most Magento malware reaches stores through stolen admin credentials, old vulnerabilities, uploaded webshells, or injected checkout JavaScript. This record is narrower: Sansec found vendor-distributed extension packages that already carried the same PHP backdoor.

The confirmed supply-chain scope covered Tigren, Meetanshi, and Magesolution (MGS). Sansec identified 21 affected modules published between 2019 and 2022, and reported that the vendor download servers had been breached. A Weltpixel GoogleTagManager package looked suspicious too, but Sansec could not establish where it had been altered.

The inserted code posed as license logic. A fake License.php or LicenseApi.php file was loaded from registration.php, and adminLoadLicense executed attacker-controlled $licenseFile content as PHP. Older 2019 variants did not require authentication; later variants added vendor-specific keys such as requestKey and dataSign checks.

The code stayed quiet for years. Sansec reported active use since at least 2025-04-20 and estimated that 500 to 1,000 stores were running affected software, including one large multinational. Vendor response was uneven: Meetanshi confirmed a server hack while disputing package tampering, Tigren denied compromise, and MGS did not respond.

Linked Attacks

2019

Top vector Distribution Top payload point Distribution
3 entries 0 open source 3 proprietary
January 3 entries

Campaign Context

Cause
Unknown
User Impact
1000

Affected Packages

Notes

  • The users value records Sansec's upper estimate of stores running affected software, not individual shoppers or confirmed data-theft victims.
  • FishPig's 2022 Magento extension compromise is tracked separately because it involved a different vendor, payload, and date window.
  • PolyShell, Xurum, MagnetoCore, and generic Magento webshell reports describe post-install exploitation or store compromise. They are related Magento ecosystem activity, but not modeled here as vendor-distributed poisoned artifacts.
  • Tigren, Meetanshi, and MGS are modeled as separate attacks because each vendor download path is a separate trust boundary.
  • Weltpixel remains campaign context because the reporting treated it as suspicious but did not confirm where the package was altered.

External References

Source record: proprietary/campaigns/magento-license-backdoor-2025/meta.yaml