Skip to main content

SourceForge accused of hijacking Nmap project account

Hacker
hamburg_berlin/Shutterstock
Open source software download site SourceForge has come under criticism again, this time for allegedly taking over the account of the Nmap security auditing software, according to its developer in an email to users.

The news comes days after SourceForge was accused of “hijacking” the account of image editing program, GIMP and bundling it in a downloader with adware. According to a report from Ars Technica, SourceForge has been assuming control of pages that are inactive.

“The old Nmap project page is now blank,” said Nmap’s developer Gordon “Fyodor” Lyon, who posted on Seclists after making the discovery. He claims that SourceForge, which is owned by Slashdot Media, has moved all of Nmap’s content to a new page that only SourceForge has control of.

“So far they seem to be providing just the official Nmap files (as long as you don’t click on the fake download buttons) and we haven’t caught them trojaning Nmap the way they did with GIMP,” he said. “But we certainly don’t trust them one bit!”

Lyon added that he will ask Sourceforge to remove the new page and directed users to the official Nmap website for downloading the program.

In response, SourceForge’s senior director of business development Roberto Galoppini stated that it has never modified the Nmap project at all.

“We find no indication that the “nmap” project has ever contained files, delivered any downloads, or had any changes made aside from the automated migration from our old SourceForge platform to the new platform which is powered by Apache Allura,” he wrote in a reply to Ars Technica’s queries.

“At the end of 2011, we established a SourceForge-hosted mirror of the nmap software, using verbatim copies of nmap’s releases, and have continued to keep that mirror up-to-date since.”

Earlier this week, SourceForge also published a blog stating that from now on any third party offers for un-maintained SourceForge projects will be opt-in only. This was in response to bundling ads with GIMP.

The code repository was sharply criticized for its practice when it was revealed that the Windows version of GIMP was archived on a SourceForge mirror site and loaded with third party ads, or adware. Sourceforge had done so as the GIMP page on its site had been left unmaintained with the program now usually downloaded elsewhere.

Editors' Recommendations

Jonathan Keane
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Jonathan is a freelance technology journalist living in Dublin, Ireland. He's previously written for publications and sites…
The HP Victus gaming PC with RTX 3060 has a $550 discount
The HP Victus 15L gaming PC in white.

Gamers don't need to spend more than $1,000 if they want to buy a new gaming PC because there are affordable options like the HP Victus 15L gaming desktop. From its original price of $1,400, you can get it for just $850 as HP has applied a $550 discount on this machine. However, you shouldn't delay your purchase because there's no assurance that the gaming PC will still be 39% off tomorrow. If you want to make sure that you get it for less than $1,000, you're going to have to complete the transaction for it within the day.

Why you should buy the HP Victus 15L gaming desktop
You shouldn't expect the HP Victus 15L gaming desktop to match the performance of the top-of-the-line models of the best gaming PCs, but it's surprisingly powerful for its cost. Inside it are the 13th-generation Intel Core i7 processor and the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 graphics card, with 16GB of RAM that our guide on how much RAM do you need says is the best place to start for gaming. It's enough to play today's best PC games without any issues, and it may even be capable of running the upcoming PC games of the next few years if you're willing to dial down the settings for the more demanding titles.

Read more
This 17-inch HP laptop is on sale for just $300 — but hurry!
The HP 17t-cn300 17.3-inch laptop against a white background.

If you want to buy a laptop with a relatively large screen, the good news is that you don't have to break the bank with your purchase because you can get the HP Laptop 17t for a very affordable $300. It's on sale from HP with a $200 discount on its original price of $500, but there's no telling how much time is remaining before this offer expires. We don't think it will stay available for long because laptop deals like this almost always get sold out quickly, so complete the transaction as soon as possible to make sure that you don't miss out on the savings.

Why you should buy the HP Laptop 17t
With the 17.3-inch display of the HP Laptop 17t, you'll have a lot of screen real estate to work on your projects and watch streaming shows. It's pretty affordable for a laptop with this large screen, which offers HD+ resolution for sharp details and vibrant colors. However, despite its big display, the HP Laptop 17t maintains portability because it's only 0.78 of an inch thick, which makes it easy to slide into your bag when you're on the go, and it won't be too heavy to carry around because it only weighs about 4.6 pounds.

Read more
What to do if your Intel CPU keeps crashing
Pins on Core i9-12900K.

Despite being among the best processors you can buy, some high-end Intel CPUs have faced a wave of instability over the past few months. Intel is investigating the problem, but the company and its motherboard partners have already worked toward some temporary fixes to improve stability on high-end Intel CPUs -- even if it comes at a performance cost.

Before getting into the fixes, keep in mind that they are temporary. Intel will release a statement on the instability soon, likely with more direct guidance on what affected users should do. In addition, the scope of the problem isn't clear -- if you're not experiencing issues, you shouldn't have anything to worry about.
Who's affected

Read more