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CVE-2021-42694 describes a vulnerability in the Unicode Specification (up to version 14.0) that allows adversaries to use homoglyphs—Unicode characters that are visually indistinguishable from standard ASCII characters—to create source code identifiers (such as function or variable names) that appear identical to legitimate ones. This can be exploited to inject malicious code into upstream dependencies, which may then be invoked in downstream software without detection by human reviewers, due to the visual similarity of the identifiers.
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1 valid exploit after Mallory filtered fakes, detection scripts, and README-only repos (2 hidden).
This repository provides a proof-of-concept tool for exploiting CVE-2021-42694, a Unicode specification vulnerability that allows the use of visually identical homoglyphs in source code identifiers. The main script, codegen.py, takes a template source file with special placeholders (e.g., $H$) and replaces them with Unicode homoglyphs as defined in homoglyphs.txt. This enables the generation of source code files (examples provided in C++ and Python) where malicious identifiers are visually indistinguishable from legitimate ones, facilitating attacks such as code injection or obfuscation. The repository includes a README with usage instructions, a homoglyphs.txt mapping file, and example templates. The exploit is language-agnostic and can target any language or toolchain that supports Unicode identifiers. No network or remote endpoints are present; the attack vector is local, relying on the manipulation and distribution of source code files.
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