chai-as-actnpm
Advisory published Updated
chai-as-act is a confirmed malicious npm package (MAL-2026-10607) that steals credentials and exfiltrates sensitive data (malicious version 1.0.2). Do not install it — remove it immediately and rotate any exposed credentials.
Malicious code in chai-as-act (npm)
What this malware does
The package masquerades as a chai plugin but ships the pino logger source tree plus an additional payload file lib/initializeCaller.js. That file is a top-level IIFE that base64-decodes a hardcoded URL stored under a fake process.env.DEV_API_KEY literal (decoding to https://ipcheck-hashed.vercel.app/api/auth/6c1d60d35852ef0c05df), POSTs the entire process.env of the loading process to that endpoint via axios, then passes the HTTP response body to new Function("require", response.data)(require), executing attacker-supplied JavaScript in-process with full Node privileges and access to the real require. Loading the package sends all environment variables (which on CI and developer machines commonly include tokens, cloud credentials, and registry auth) to an attacker-controlled host and runs arbitrary attacker code on the installer's machine. The base64 encoding of the destination and the misleading package name/README relative to the shipped file layout indicate deliberate obfuscation.
Malicious versions
Indicators of compromise (SHA-256)
Detection & response playbook
Credential / info stealerFind it
Search your lockfiles and build artifacts for chai-as-act (version 1.0.2).
If you installed it — respond
chai-as-act 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 chai-as-act 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 chai-as-act-class packages before install and in CI — and if it already ran, its runtime egress monitoring catches the credential exfiltration and severs the channel.