Amazon Q wiper prompt. The access path.
A leaked build token put a filesystem wiping prompt into a signed extension release. The payload was a prompt. The identity that delivered it was a build token nobody had scoped.
The record
Entry point. CodeBuild configuration, a GitHub token with overly broad permissions sat in it.
The identity in the middle. A GitHub token with overly broad permissions, exposed in the extension CodeBuild configuration.
What was reached. developer workstations, a prompt to clean the system to near factory state; AWS states a syntax error prevented execution.
A leaked build token put a filesystem wiping prompt into a signed extension release.
The path, step by step.
Taken from the published reporting. Nothing here is reconstructed.
| Step | Role in the path | What the reporting records |
|---|---|---|
| CodeBuild configuration | Entry | a GitHub token with overly broad permissions sat in it |
| the open source repository | Step | commits added a downloader and a prompt invoking the agent CLI with all tools trusted |
| release pipeline | Step | the change was built and published as version 1.84.0 |
| developer workstations | Reached | a prompt to clean the system to near factory state; AWS states a syntax error prevented execution |
Where a breakpoint would have been
The token in the build configuration. The payload is novel and the delivery is not: a credential with more permission than the pipeline needed is what let an outsider write into a signed release. Scoping and short lived credentials in CI close this before the payload matters.
A breakpoint is the single change that closes a path with the least disruption. Read how that is chosen in the breakpoint page.
4 steps from entry to data.
Where this comes from.
Every field on this page is taken from the published reporting below. The breakpoint assessment is Elmoz reading that path, not a statement about what the affected organisation did.
AWS security bulletin AWS-2025-015 · Zenity Labs timeline · BleepingComputer
Questions, answered.
The two questions this record answers.
What was the entry point in the Amazon Q wiper prompt incident?
The published path starts at CodeBuild configuration, a GitHub token with overly broad permissions sat in it.
What did it reach?
The last step in the published path is developer workstations, a prompt to clean the system to near factory state; AWS states a syntax error prevented execution.
Other incidents.
Same database, different path shape.
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