cacao1npm
cacao1 is a confirmed malicious npm package (MAL-2026-14591) that opens a backdoor for remote access (malicious version 9.9.9). Do not install it — remove it immediately and rotate any exposed credentials.
Malicious code in cacao1 (npm)
What this malware does
The package has no advertised functionality (empty description, self-referential dependency on its own name at ^9.9.9). Its package.json declares both preinstall and postinstall lifecycle scripts that execute index.js, which reads os.hostname() and issues an HTTP GET to https://eo8f3m3ho26a0nm.m.pipedream.net/cacao1 with the hostname included as a query parameter. Installing the package therefore causes the installer's hostname to be transmitted to a hardcoded third-party collector controlled by the package author. The structure (empty description, self-dependency, lifecycle-triggered beacon to a pipedream.net collector, unusual 9.9.9 version) matches a dependency-confusion beacon rather than a functional library.
The OpenSSF Package Analysis project identified 'cacao1' @ 9.9.9 (npm) as malicious.
It is considered malicious because:
- The package communicates with a domain associated with malicious activity.
Malicious versions
Indicators of compromise (SHA-256)
Detection & response playbook
Backdoor / remote accessFind it
Scan your lockfiles (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, yarn.lock, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, etc.) and build artifacts for cacao1 (version 9.9.9). O3 Security's supply-chain scanner checks every dependency against known-malicious package intelligence at install time and in CI, flagging cacao1 across your stack and pipelines.
If you installed it — respond
cacao1 establishes remote access, so treat any host that installed it as fully compromised. Isolate the machine, remove the package, rotate all credentials it could reach, and rebuild from a trusted image rather than cleaning in place — a backdoor may have planted additional persistence.
Did it already run?
If cacao1 was ever installed, its post-install/runtime payload may have already executed. O3's L7 egress monitoring and runtime eBPF sensors detect the credential exfiltration or command-and-control callback after install and block the malicious outbound channel, so you catch and contain the actual compromise — not just the presence of the package.
How O3 protects you
O3 blocks cacao1 before install through its supply-chain scanner, and if it has already run, detects and severs the exfiltration or C2 callback at runtime through L7 egress monitoring and eBPF.
Frequently asked questions
Campaign
References
Credits
- Amazon Inspector · finder
- OpenSSF: Package Analysis · finder
Detect & block this
O3 blocks cacao1-class packages before install and in CI — and if it already ran, its runtime egress monitoring catches the C2 callback and severs the channel.