# Tutorial 52: NPM Dependency Confusion and Unclaimed Packages

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In modern software development, managing dependencies through package managers like **NPM** (Node Package Manager) has become a crucial part of building applications. These dependencies are external libraries or modules that developers use to avoid reinventing the wheel, speeding up the development process. However, relying on third-party packages also introduces new attack vectors, one of which is known as **Dependency Confusion**.

Dependency confusion occurs when an attacker exploits the difference between public and private package repositories by publishing a malicious package with the same name as a legitimate one, often with a higher version number. This can trick package managers into downloading and executing the malicious package instead of the intended one.

One specific variant of this issue involves **unclaimed NPM package names and scopes**. If a package or organizational scope is not claimed on the public NPM registry, a malicious actor can claim it and upload a package under the unclaimed name. Developers who use that package in their projects unknowingly run the risk of executing malicious code.

In this section, we'll dive deeper into how dependency confusion works and how unclaimed NPM packages or organizational scopes can be exploited to introduce malicious code into a developer’s environment.


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