ai-chat-helpernpm
Advisory published Updated
ai-chat-helper is a confirmed malicious npm package (MAL-2026-6086) that steals credentials and exfiltrates sensitive data (malicious versions 1.0.1, 1.0.2, 1.0.9). Do not install it — remove it immediately and rotate any exposed credentials.
Malicious code in ai-chat-helper (npm)
What this malware does
collect.js performs system reconnaissance and exfiltration to a hardcoded attacker-controlled host. The script imports child_process, os, fs, http, and https; reads os.hostname(), os.homedir(), and inspects local filesystem paths via fs.existsSync; and POSTs the collected data to http://aab.sportsontheweb.net (line 13/line 366). The destination is an unrelated third-party domain over cleartext HTTP, with no relationship to any documented chat-helper functionality. This is the canonical credential/host-info beacon shape: child_process for command execution, os for host identity, fs for local file enumeration, and a hardcoded HTTP POST to an attacker domain.
Malicious versions
Indicators of compromise (SHA-256)
Detection & response playbook
Credential / info stealerFind it
Search your lockfiles and build artifacts for ai-chat-helper (3 malicious versions).
If you installed it — respond
ai-chat-helper is built to steal secrets, so assume every credential the build or runtime could read is compromised. Remove it from your project and lockfile, then rotate ALL exposed secrets — npm/registry tokens, cloud keys, CI/CD secrets, SSH keys, and any .env values — from a known-clean machine. Audit logs for unauthorized use of those credentials.
Did it already run?
If ai-chat-helper was installed, its post-install payload may already have run. Removing the package does not undo that — check outbound connections and credential use from the install window onward.
Frequently asked questions
Campaign
References
Credits
- Amazon Inspector · finder
Detect & block this
O3 blocks ai-chat-helper-class packages before install and in CI — and if it already ran, its runtime egress monitoring catches the credential exfiltration and severs the channel.