First example we at MELPA have seen of an #emacs package getting hacked (upstream of us, in GitHub): https://github.com/kubernetes-el/kubernetes-el/issues/383
This repository has been compromised · Issue #383 · kubernetes-el/kubernetes-el

@noorul 929c639 This repository has been compromised a few days ago. I've just discovered this a few minutes ago. Apparently a Github action was used. I've removed the package from Melpa and blocke...

GitHub
If installed, loading this compromised #emacs library would trigger the embedded shell command. Not very subtle, but this should be a reminder to the dev community that plugins for even niche dev tools can be an attack vector.
Great tips from @tarsius on how to reduce the risk of your GitHub actions being hacked like this: https://www.reddit.com/r/emacs/comments/1rowm5i/comment/o9hxc10/
@sanityinc Strange that the PR was merged without maintainer approval.
@paniash I commented on the issue — I think the attacker stole a github token via a privileged Actions run that was made without needing the maintainer's approval.
@sanityinc It's events like this that make me want to just write all my own Emacs packages
Two Years of Emacs Solo: 35 Modules, Zero External Packages, and a Full Refactor | Rahul's Blog

Rahul's Blog

@sanityinc I already use almost exclusively my own Elixir tooling. I think the only non-built-in package that I use and would struggle to replicate is Magit. So maybe that's just a "pin to commit" situation 🙂

@j3rn @sanityinc I've been running on magit from 2011 for ... well, since 2011

and using subtrees to lock in all my packages in my dotfiles repo for nearly as long; works great and I highly recommend it

@technomancy @sanityinc Makes sense, but I'm debating if it's more efficient to manually verify updates or just implement the packages myself. Probably differs on a per-package basis, if I had to guess.

@j3rn @sanityinc I didn't do this from the start, but a couple years ago I started a policy of reading every line of elisp in a package before adding it

of course it has the effect of making sure I don't add a lot of elisp to my setup, but I think that's a good thing

@j3rn @sanityinc also if you're looking to reduce your exposure but can't manually review some of the more popular packages, things like magit and exwm can be installed from apt, where they A) get updates at a less-risky pace and B) have a packaging team that is responsible for reviewing each update for you