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SecurityQuiet 29h · day 5

Z.ai apologizes, open-sources ZCode after secret codebase uploads exposed

Chinese AI firm patches and open-sources its coding agent after a researcher showed it was silently shipping users' encrypted Git repositories to Alibaba Cloud.

newest coverage 1d agosummary written 1d ago10 pieces6 likes & upvotes7 comments Hacker NewsNewswires

What to know

  • ZCode secretly packaged, encrypted, and uploaded entire user codebases (including Git history) to Alibaba Cloud, with Z.ai holding the only decryption key so users could not access or delete their own data.
  • Two settings that appeared to control this behavior did not actually stop the upload pipeline, and there was no disclosure in ZCode's privacy policy.
  • Z.ai apologized, disabled the feature, commissioned CAICT and NSFOCUS audits claiming deletion of uploaded data, and open-sourced ZCode under Apache-2.0.
  • The researcher who exposed the issue says Z.ai wiped commit history and omitted the original vulnerable code from the open-source release, limiting independent verification.

Ferstar independent security researcherZ.ai (Zhipu AI) Chinese AI company behind ZCodeZhang Peng Z.ai CEOTang Jie Z.ai co-founder, Tsinghua professor

Z.ai apologizes, open-sources ZCode after secret codebase uploads exposed
theregister.com

How it unfolded 3 developments, newest first · click a bar or a number to jump articlesposts

Peak 6 pieces in two hours at Sep 21, 9 AM; 10 pieces over 6 days (7 articles · 3 posts) Sep 18, 1 PM — 1 piece · 1 post — Hacker News 1Sep 18, 3 PM — quietSep 18, 5 PM — quietSep 18, 7 PM — quietSep 18, 9 PM — quietSep 18, 11 PM — quietSep 19, 1 AM — quietSep 19, 3 AM — quietSep 19, 5 AM — quietSep 19, 7 AM — quietSep 19, 9 AM — quietSep 19, 11 AM — quietSep 19, 1 PM — quietSep 19, 3 PM — quietSep 19, 5 PM — quietSep 19, 7 PM — quietSep 19, 9 PM — quietSep 19, 11 PM — quietSep 20, 1 AM — quietSep 20, 3 AM — quietSep 20, 5 AM — quietSep 20, 7 AM — quietSep 20, 9 AM — quietSep 20, 11 AM — quietSep 20, 1 PM — quietSep 20, 3 PM — quietSep 20, 5 PM — quietSep 20, 7 PM — quietSep 20, 9 PM — quietSep 20, 11 PM — quietSep 21, 1 AM — quietSep 21, 3 AM — quietSep 21, 5 AM — quietSep 21, 7 AM — quietSep 21, 9 AM — 6 pieces · 6 articles — Newswires 6Sep 21, 11 AM — quietSep 21, 1 PM — quietSep 21, 3 PM — quietSep 21, 5 PM — quietSep 21, 7 PM — quietSep 21, 9 PM — quietSep 21, 11 PM — quietSep 22, 1 AM — quietSep 22, 3 AM — quietSep 22, 5 AM — quietSep 22, 7 AM — quietSep 22, 9 AM — 1 piece · 1 article — Newswires 1Sep 22, 11 AM — quietSep 22, 1 PM — quietSep 22, 3 PM — 1 piece · 1 post — Hacker News 1Sep 22, 5 PM — quietSep 22, 7 PM — 1 piece · 1 post — Hacker News 1Sep 22, 9 PM — quietSep 22, 11 PM — quietYesterday, 1 AM — quietYesterday, 3 AM — quietYesterday, 5 AM — quietYesterday, 7 AM — quietYesterday, 9 AM — quietYesterday, 11 AM — quietYesterday, 1 PM — quietYesterday, 3 PM — quietYesterday, 5 PM — quietYesterday, 7 PM — quietYesterday, 9 PM — quietYesterday, 11 PM — quiet 123
Sep 19Sep 20Sep 21Sep 22yesterdaynow · 1:59 AM ET
  1. 3

    Ferstar flags gaps in Z.ai's remediation and transparency

    Ferstar confirmed the open-sourced code no longer contains the Repo Wiki functionality but criticized Z.ai for wiping commit records and omitting the original pre-patch upload source code from the release.

    “We sincerely thank the community developers who previously identified issues in ZCode. Going forward, we will establish an ongoing product security vulnerability reporting and response process…”
    — ZCode, official company statement (X/Xeet) · source
  2. 2

    Outlets note reputational damage amid rising AI security scrutiny

    Reports from SCMP and Tech in Asia said the incident was likely to hurt Z.ai's reputation as trust and cybersecurity become central concerns for the AI industry, drawing comparisons to xAI's Grok data-handling controversy in July.

    “It's basically like stealing something from users, and the malicious intent is what concerns me…”
    — Shanghai-based AI developer, developer commenting on the incident · source
  3. background

    Z.ai cites outside audits confirming data deletion — Z.ai said it engaged China's CAICT and Beijing security firm NSFOCUS to assess the product; both reportedly concluded previously uploaded data had been deleted and confirmed the Repo Wiki feature was removed.

  4. background

    Z.ai apologizes and open-sources ZCode — Z.ai released a public apology for the 'security issues,' said uploaded data was never used for training, disabled the Repo Wiki/Repository Index feature, and published ZCode's desktop, web, CLI and backend code on GitHub under an Apache-2.0 license.

  5. 2 days quiet
  6. 1

    Z.ai acknowledges the upload issue, signals open-sourcing plan

    After the report circulated, Z.ai said ZCode had uploaded repo data and indicated it would open-source the tool in response to the backlash.

    1. 3 outlets Z.ai Open-Sources ZCode After Data Uploading Scandal

      first by The Information, 2d ago · also RuntimeWire, Reuters

      2 more headlines
  7. background

    Ferstar exposes ZCode's covert workspace uploads — Researcher Ferstar found a 313MB encrypted archive of 42,411 files from a commercial workspace, including Git history, queued for upload to Alibaba Cloud after 564 failed attempts; Z.ai held the only decryption key.