Is Zowe Explorer safe to use?

Zowe Explorer has a security risk score of 84.99/100 (HIGH risk). Our security analysis detected 637 findings. Review the detailed security assessment below to understand the specific risks before installation.

What are the security risks of Zowe Explorer?

Based on our automated security analysis, Zowe Explorer presents high risk level. The extension is analyzed for malware patterns, secret exposure, network communications, permissions, and supply chain vulnerabilities.

How is the security score calculated?

Risky Plugins calculates security scores using weighted categories: severity of findings (25 points max), malware detections (35 points), secret exposure (28 points), network communications (10 points), and obfuscation (10 points). Scores range from 0-100, with higher scores indicating greater risk.

What does CRITICAL, HIGH, MEDIUM, LOW, MINIMAL risk mean?

CRITICAL (80-100): Severe security issues like malware. HIGH (60-79): Significant vulnerabilities. MEDIUM (40-59): Moderate security concerns. LOW (20-39): Minor issues. MINIMAL (0-19): Very low risk. Always review findings before installing any extension.

VS Code Marketplace Verified

Zowe Explorer

Name: Zowe Explorer
Availability: InStock
Rating: 5 (6 reviews)
Author: Zowe

by Zowe · 261.4K users · 5.0 rating

94a909ba-03b1-588a-b34f-7201ec4bb301 | v3.6.0

HIGH risk

No change since v3.5.1

Risk verdict

Review before use

Score-based assessment (high risk, 85/100). No analyst review available.

Analysis record

Analysed: 1 weeks ago
Version: v3.6.0
Artifact: SHA256 C16…9A6
Source: Findings (non-IoC)

Evidence ledger

Ranked by severity · findings with a source location link to the code viewer

270 detail rows

Showing 25 of 28 · highest severity first

YARA Rule Matches

18 rules

Severity	Rule	Hits	Files	Metadata
LOW	`ServerHostnameNotVerified`	1	out/src/vendors.extension.js	-
LOW	`DebuggerStatementsShouldNotBeUsed`	1	out/src/vendors.extension.js	-
LOW	`UsingCommandLineArguments`	1	out/src/vendors.extension.js	-
LOW	`postinstall crypto operations`	12	prebuilds/keyring.linux-x64-gnu.nodesrc/webviews/dist/ag-grid-react/ag-grid-react.jsprebuilds/keyring.linux-arm64-musl.node +9 more	-
LOW	`postinstall file manipulation`	39	prebuilds/keyring.linux-x64-musl.nodesrc/webviews/dist/resources/release-notes.mdl10n/bundle.l10n.pt-br.json +36 more	-
LOW	`postinstall system command`	39	src/webviews/dist/zos-console/zos-console.jsprebuilds/keyring.linux-x64-musl.nodesrc/webviews/dist/resources/release-notes.md +36 more	-
LOW	`postinstall environment access`	3	src/webviews/dist/browser/browser.jssrc/webviews/dist/edit-attributes/edit-attributes.jssrc/webviews/dist/index/index.js	-
LOW	`postinstall registry modification`	10	prebuilds/keyring.linux-x64-musl.nodeout/src/vendors.extension.jssrc/webviews/dist/index/index.js +7 more	-
LOW	`postinstall obfuscation`	27	src/webviews/dist/table-view/table-view.jsl10n/bundle.l10n.ja.jsonpackage.nls.qps-ploc.json +24 more	-
LOW	`postinstall network communication`	40	src/webviews/dist/index/index.jssrc/webviews/dist/resources/release-notes.mdl10n/bundle.l10n.pt-br.json +37 more	-
LOW	`OriginsNotVerified`	1	src/webviews/dist/edit-history/edit-history.js	-
LOW	`UsingShellInterpreterWhenExecutingOSCommands`	1	out/src/main.extension.js	-
LOW	`postinstall file download`	39	src/webviews/dist/utils/utils.jsl10n/bundle.l10n.qps-ploc.jsonl10n/bundle.l10n.zh-cn.json +36 more	-
LOW	`SQLInjection`	3	src/webviews/dist/release-notes/release-notes.jsout/src/main.extension.jssrc/webviews/dist/index/index.js	-
LOW	`NoUseWeakRandom`	3	src/webviews/dist/ag-grid-react/ag-grid-react.jsout/src/vendors.extension.jssrc/webviews/dist/index/index.js	-
LOW	`credential env files`	3	src/webviews/dist/ag-grid-react/ag-grid-react.jsout/src/vendors.extension.jsout/src/main.extension.js	-
LOW	`credential vscode credentials`	1	CHANGELOG.md	-
LOW	`postinstall persistence mechanism`	18	CHANGELOG.mdl10n/bundle.l10n.zh-cn.jsonl10n/bundle.l10n.ja.json +15 more	-

Network Indicators

Concrete URLs, domains, IPs, emails, and hashes extracted from the analyzed artifact.

367 total

...

Network indicators are queued for lazy loading

Scroll this section into view to load the detailed rows.

Publisher Evidence

Low

Zowe

Publisher identity, store signals, distribution reach, and warning signals used for context. Treat this as supporting evidence, not a clean bill of health.

Noisy-finding weight

x1.00

Publisher domain

zowe.org

Observed

Store verification signal

Verified publisher

Verified

Extension portfolio

Portfolio

12 evidence rows available.

Finding Categories

Obfuscation

Network

367

IoC Indicators

YARA Rules Matched

18 rules(242 hits)

ServerHostnameNotVerified DebuggerStatementsShouldNotBeUsed UsingCommandLineArguments postinstall crypto operations postinstall file manipulation postinstall system command postinstall environment access postinstall registry modification postinstall obfuscation postinstall network communication OriginsNotVerified UsingShellInterpreterWhenExecutingOSCommands postinstall file download SQLInjection NoUseWeakRandom credential env files +2 more

Security Analysis Summary

Security Analysis Overview

Zowe Explorer is a Visual Studio Code Marketplace extension published by Zowe. Version 3.6.0 has been analyzed by the Risky Plugins security platform, receiving a risk score of 84.99/100 (HIGH risk) based on 637 security findings.

Risk Assessment

This extension presents high security risk. Significant concerns were identified during analysis. It is not recommended for use in sensitive or production environments without thorough review.

Findings Breakdown

Critical: 11 finding(s)
High: 2 finding(s)
Medium: 371 finding(s)
Low: 253 finding(s)

What Was Analyzed

The security assessment covers multiple analysis categories:

Malware Detection: YARA rule matching against 2,400+ malware signatures
Secret Detection: Scanning for exposed API keys, tokens, and credentials
Static Analysis: Code-level security analysis for common vulnerability patterns
Network Analysis: Detection of suspicious network communications and endpoints
Obfuscation Detection: Identification of code obfuscation techniques

Developer Information

Zowe Explorer is published by Zowe on the Visual Studio Code Marketplace marketplace. The extension has approximately 261K users.

Recommendation

This extension is not recommended for installation without thorough manual review. Consider alternatives with lower risk scores, or contact the developer to address the identified security concerns.

VS Code version history

Risk trend by version

5 analyzed versions. Each point is the latest successful scan for that version; failed zero-score scans are hidden. Dates are based on first seen by risky plugins.

Selected

Change since first

+16

Change from previous

No change

Versions:

First analyzed version

3.4.1

Feb 8, 2026

Risk range

69 to 85

Across analyzed versions

Latest analyzed version

3.6.0

Sep 12, 2026

Selected version

high

Version

v3.6.0

1 weeks ago

Risk score

Findings

638

Change vs previous

No change

Pick any point on the chart to explore that version's code below.

Source Code Viewer

Source Code Not Available

Source code is not available for this version of the extension.

About This Extension

VS Code extension, powered by Zowe CLI, that streamlines interaction with mainframe Data Sets, USS files, and Jobs

Frequently Asked Questions

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Analysis record

Evidence ledger

OBFUSCATION-NATIVE_BINARY_ADDON-extension/prebuilds/keyring.win32-arm64-msvc.node-0

OBFUSCATION-NATIVE_BINARY_ADDON-extension/prebuilds/keyring.darwin-arm64.node-0

OBFUSCATION-NATIVE_BINARY_ADDON-extension/prebuilds/keyring.win32-ia32-msvc.node-0

OBFUSCATION-NATIVE_BINARY_ADDON-extension/prebuilds/keyring.darwin-x64.node-0

OBFUSCATION-NATIVE_BINARY_ADDON-extension/prebuilds/keyring.linux-arm-gnueabihf.node-0

OBFUSCATION-NATIVE_BINARY_ADDON-extension/prebuilds/keyring.win32-x64-msvc.node-0

OBFUSCATION-NATIVE_BINARY_ADDON-extension/prebuilds/keyring.linux-arm64-musl.node-0

OBFUSCATION-NATIVE_BINARY_ADDON-extension/prebuilds/keyring.linux-ia32-gnu.node-0

OBFUSCATION-NATIVE_BINARY_ADDON-extension/prebuilds/keyring.linux-x64-gnu.node-0

OBFUSCATION-NATIVE_BINARY_ADDON-extension/prebuilds/keyring.linux-arm64-gnu.node-0

OBFUSCATION-NATIVE_BINARY_ADDON-extension/prebuilds/keyring.linux-x64-musl.node-0

OBFUSCATION-UNICODE_HEAVY-extension/out/src/vendors.extension.js-815

OBFUSCATION-HEX_STRING_HEAVY-extension/out/src/vendors.extension.js-815

OBFUSCATION-LARGE_BASE64-extension/out/src/vendors.extension.js-1207

NET-FETCH-extension/src/webviews/dist/browser/browser.js-1

NET-FETCH-extension/src/webviews/dist/utils/utils.js-1

OBFUSCATION-FUNCTION_INDIRECT-extension/out/src/vendors.extension.js-18

DEP-@zowe/zos-jobs-for-zowe-sdk-^8.36.0

DEP-@zowe/core-for-zowe-sdk-^8.36.0

DEP-@zowe/secrets-for-zowe-sdk-^8.36.0

DEP-isbinaryfile-4.0.4

DEP-@zowe/zosmf-for-zowe-sdk-^8.36.0

DEP-promise-queue-2.2.5

DEP-@zowe/zos-files-for-zowe-sdk-^8.36.0

DEP-dayjs-^1.11.11

YARA Rule Matches

Network Indicators

Publisher Evidence

Finding Categories

YARA Rules Matched

Security Analysis Summary

Security Analysis Overview

Risk Assessment

Findings Breakdown

What Was Analyzed

Developer Information

Recommendation

Risk trend by version

About This Extension

Frequently Asked Questions

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