Discussion
Vercel April 2026 security incident
MattIPv4: Related: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47824426 https://x.com/theo/status/2045862972342313374 https://x.com/DiffeKey/status/2045813085408051670
OsrsNeedsf2P: The lack of details makes me wonder how large this "subset" of users really is
lukewarm707: "a security incident that involved unauthorized access to certain internal Vercel systems."could they be a little more specific?
0xy: This is why you pay a real provider for serious business needs, not an AWS reseller. Next.js is a fundamentally insecure framework, as server components are an anti-pattern full of magic leading to stuff like the below. Given their standards for framework security, it's not hard to believe their business' control plane is just as insecure (and probably built using the same insecure framework).Next.js is the new PHP, but worse, since unlike PHP you don't really know what's server side and what's client side anymore. It's all just commingled and handled magically.https://aws.amazon.com/security/security-bulletins/rss/aws-2...
jtreminio: I'm on a macbook pro, Google Chrome 147.0.7727.56.Clicking the Vercel logo at the top left of the page hard crashes my Chrome app. Like, immediate crash.What an interesting bug.
farnulfo: Same hard crash on Chrome Windows 11
neom: https://x.com/theo/status/2045871215705747965 - "Everything I know about this hack suggests it could happen to any host"He also suggests in another post that Linear and GitHub could also be pwned?Either way, hugops to all the SRE/DevOps out there, seems like it's going to be a busy Sunday for many.
embedding-shape: Based on what, "feels like it"? Claiming that Cloudflare is affected by the same hack has to come from somewhere, but where is that coming from?
gneray: Oy vey: https://x.com/theo/status/2045862972342313374?s=46
rvz: I do remember that OpenAI did use Vercel a year ago. They might have likely moved off of it to something better.
rvz: There is no serious reason to use Vercel, other than for those being locked into the NextJs ecosystem and demo projects.
mikert89: Much as I want to rip on vercel, its clear that ai is going to lead to mass security breaches. The attack surface is so large, and ai agents are working around the clock. This is a new normal. Open source software is going to change, companies wont be running random repos off github anymore
lijok: ShinyHunters are a phishing group. What does this have to do with AI agents?
itaintmagic: Do you have a chrome://crashes/ entry ?
embedding-shape: > Next.js is the new PHP, but worse, since unlike PHP you don't really know what's server side and what's client side anymore. It's all just commingled and handled magically.Wasn't unheard of back in the day, that you leaked things via PHP templates, like serializing and adding the whole user object including private details in a Twig template or whatever, it just happened the other way around kind of. This was before a fat frontend and thin backend was the prevalent architecture, many built their "frontends" from templates with just sprinkles of JavaScript back then.
gruez: from his "sources".> Here’s what I’ve managed to get from my sources:>3. The method of compromise was likely used to hit multiple companies other than Vercel.https://x.com/theo/status/2045870216555499636To be fair journalists often do this too, eg. "[company] was breached, people within the company claim"
mikert89: Run ai agents around the clock to do hyper targeted fishing
techpression: ”Any host” of what? That’s such a non-descriptive statement and clearly not true at face value.
phillipcarter: I don't know if I'd trust some random programmer-streamer-influencer on anything other than the topic of streamer-influencing.
cj: I feel like humans would be better at hyper targeting.AI agents have the benefit of working at scale, probably "better" used for mass targeting.
sbarre: People say "Next.js is the new PHP" because it's the most popular and prominent tooling out there, and so by sheer number of available targets it's the one that comes up the most when things go wrong like this.But there are more people trying to secure this framework and the underlying tools than there would be on some obscure framework or something the average company built themselves.Also "pay a real provider", what does that mean? Are you again implying that the average company should be responsible for _more_ of their own security in their hosting stack, not less?Most companies have _zero_ security engineers.. Using a vertically-integrated hosting company like Vercel (or other similar companies, perhaps with different tech stacks - this opinion has nothing to do with Next or Node) is very likely their best and most secure option based on what they are able to invest in that area.
rapfaria: it did add an entry - windows 11, chrome
sph: Your entire recent posting history is "software engineering is over, AI has won."What's your agenda here?
bossyTeacher: Paid by a Sama minion, I bet.
goalieca: Slop coding and makeshift sites being thrown up with abandon at breakneck speeds is going to buy me a lot of minivans.
rubiquity: He doesn't work at Vercel but he is the type to never pass up any opportunity to chase clout.
threecheese: Almost like that’s his job.Hey, I’m with you - I think social media needs to die specifically for this reason. I’m reminded of the term “snake oil” - it’s like the dawn of newspapers again.
otterley: Who is this “theo” person and why are multiple people quoting him? He seems to have little to say that’s substantive at this point.
gordonhart: He’s a tech influencer, probably getting quoted here because he has the biggest reach of people covering this so far.
recursivegirth: Ah, Theo with his vast insights and connections into everything. That man gets around, and his content is worth it's cost.Theo's content boils down to the same boring formula. 1. Whatever buzzword headline is trending at the time 2. Immediate sponsored ad that is supposed to make you sympathize with Theo cause he "vets" his sponsors. 3. The man makes you listen to a "that totally happened" story that he somehow always involved himself personally. 4. Man serves you up an ad for his t3.chat and how it's the greatest thing in the world and how he should be paid more for his infinite wisdom. 5. A rag on Claude or OpenAI (whichever is leading at the time) 6. 5-10 minutes of paraphrasing an article without critical thought or analysis on the video topic.I used to enjoy his content when he was still in his Ping era, but it's clear hes drunken the YT marketer kool-aid. I've moved on, his content gets recommend now and again, but I can't entertain his non-sense anymore.
neom: I don't watch his content, but I felt comfortable posting his link as I believe he's generally considered a reputable guy? His tweets sometimes come up in my for you tab and he seems reasonable and knowledgable generally? Maybe I'm wrong and shouldn't have linked to him as a source.
MikeNotThePope: Theo Browne is a reasonably well known YouTuber & YC founder.https://t3.gg/
eddythompson80: Isn’t he a Vercel evangelist though?
