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Malicious package

chai-as-deployernpm

Advisory published Updated

chai-as-deployer is a confirmed malicious npm package (MAL-2026-13700) that steals credentials and exfiltrates sensitive data (malicious versions 2.3.5, 2.3.6). Do not install it — remove it immediately and rotate any exposed credentials.

Malicious code in chai-as-deployer (npm)

MAL-2026-13700
Immediate action
Remove the package, then rotate any secrets the build/runtime could reach.
npm uninstall chai-as-deployer

What this malware does

The package is published as chai-as-deployer but its tarball contains verbatim pino README/docs/type-definitions while the advertised chai plugin is a no-op Express middleware (return (_req,_res,next) => { next(); }). index.js unconditionally executes require('./lib/config') at module top level, loading a ~3.5MB single-line obfuscator.io-style bundle (rotated string array, decoder functions, hex-escaped identifiers) that has no relationship to pino or the advertised functionality. The obfuscated body contains require, exec, spawn, and axios tokens, indicating the decoded code drives child-process execution and outbound HTTP requests. Any consumer that imports chai-as-deployer triggers this payload with no further action. Author metadata is generic (Harrison Thorn <[email protected]>, bugs URL harrisonthorn.com) and the package description is unrelated boilerplate. The combination of cover-story impersonation, no legitimate functionality, top-level require of a heavily obfuscated bundle, and shell+network primitives inside that bundle is the canonical shape of an import-time stealer/loader.

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.

Malicious versions

2 flagged
2.3.52.3.6

Indicators of compromise (SHA-256)

5aef4629b3aa0ef2f5afc03676e6b2d749b8b6cc7fa3dc211aebc573997d1727
c4da130c2818dc609c23c93511a70a6c207cf19cdf9fdd937e369e07b5f1e492
cb63584d83487c7d7ce3b9d031d79502412fd048c2260a05b0a8ef98aa23ef59
2027e38f9d0f8d025e6386ffdaad8bf04b3dc218146f6d879900f71434fa6ed8
626c7dda8d3e9d05bc96c4c062d6d1bb1cc40f8821ef67efa1a40757cac2166c

Detection & response playbook

Credential / info stealer
  1. Find it

    Search your lockfiles and build artifacts for chai-as-deployer (2 malicious versions).

  2. If you installed it — respond

    chai-as-deployer 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.

  3. Did it already run?

    If chai-as-deployer 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

No. chai-as-deployer on npm has been identified as a malicious package (versions 2.3.5, 2.3.6 flagged). It should be removed immediately — do not install or keep it in your dependency tree.

Campaign

IN-MAL-2026-017268IN-MAL-2026-017269GHSA-6q3r-v92v-89p4RLMA-2026-06114RLUA-2026-10702

References

Credits

  • Amazon Inspector · finder
  • ReversingLabs · finder

Detect & block this

O3 blocks chai-as-deployer-class packages before install and in CI — and if it already ran, its runtime egress monitoring catches the credential exfiltration and severs the channel.

Explore

chai-as-deployer (npm) malicious package — MAL-2026-13700 | O3 Security