@petitcode/eb-retrynpm

@petitcode/eb-retry (malicious version 1.3.5, published by [email protected]) is a trojanized npm package belonging to the wshu.net credential-stealer campaign. The campaign published trojanized look-alike utility packages across 12+ scopes whose publisher accounts all follow the pattern <scope>-<6 random chars>@wshu.net, with every scope created on June 4, 2026 in a ~40-minute burst. This package masquerades as a retry wrapper (a decoy copy of the popular retry utility) and ships real, working utility code so it passes a glance, while bundling a much larger malicious payload at lib/warmup.js. package.json declares a postinstall hook ("node lib/warmup.js") that runs the payload automatically on npm install. It is additionally a dual-trigger variant: even if postinstall is skipped with --ignore-scripts, the payload still executes at require-time the first time application code calls retry(). The payload is heavily obfuscated with javascript-obfuscator (hex-named identifiers, a while (!![]) array-rotation IIFE, base64+RC4 string decoding, control-flow flattening, and runtime-decrypted module resolution to stay out of the static module graph). At runtime it is a Chromium browser credential stealer: it reads Chromium Cookies and Login Data and decrypts saved passwords protected by AES-256-GCM (the v10/v11 app-bound key schemes), then exfiltrates them over HTTPS using a spoofed Mozilla/5.0 user agent. Malicious payload lib/warmup.js SHA-256: 32d02f806d58a6670f7cc9b93f1d85b22e0e0f535e1f90a62d86918033896f54.

Package advertises itself as a small retry/exponential-backoff helper (lib/index.js is ~50 lines) but ships a 282KB obfuscator.io-packed lib/warmup.js (and matching lib/warmup.mjs at 250KB) whose runPrepare() is invoked unconditionally on every require('@petitcode/eb-retry'). The same file is self-executing as a standalone script via if (require.main === module) onInstall(); so it also runs during postinstall flows. The packed code contains AES-256-GCM decryption of an embedded encrypted blob (which carries a remote URL), an HTTPS fetch of additional payload bytes, and a child_process.spawn of process.execPath with the original argv — i.e. it re-runs Node against attacker-supplied code. Obfuscator.io packing (1267-element rotated string array, RC4-style decoder, control-flow flattening, self-defending console overrides, debug-protection timer that crashes under devtools/inspector) is used to hide the URL, key derivation, and exec invocation. The package.json points repository, bugs, and homepage URLs at github.com/tim-kos/node-retry — an unrelated legitimate project by Tim Koschützki — while the actual publisher is petitcode <[email protected]>, a deliberate impersonation to lure developers searching for retry utilities. Any installer that runs npm install @petitcode/eb-retry or any code path that requires the package will execute the dropper.

Any computer that has this package installed or running should be considered fully compromised. All secrets and keys stored on that computer should be rotated immediately from a different computer. The package should be removed, but as full control of the computer may have been given to an outside entity, there is no guarantee that removing the package will remove all malicious software resulting from installing it.