Which versions of chai-as-init are malicious?

The following npm versions of chai-as-init are flagged malicious: 1.4.6. Treat any of these as compromised.

How do I remediate chai-as-init if I installed it?

Remove chai-as-init from your project and lockfile, then assume any secrets accessible to the build or runtime were exposed: rotate API keys, tokens, and credentials, and audit for unexpected outbound network activity or persistence. Use O3 Security's dependency scanner to confirm the package and its artifacts are fully purged across your stack.

Is chai-as-init part of a known attack campaign?

Yes — chai-as-init is associated with the IN-MAL-2026-005481 campaign. Packages in the same campaign often share infrastructure and payloads, so check whether any related packages are also in your dependency tree.

Can O3 Security detect chai-as-init in my codebase?

Yes. O3 Security's supply-chain scanner checks every dependency against known-malicious package intelligence at install time and in CI, blocking chai-as-init and packages like it before any post-install script runs.

Malicious package

chai-as-initnpm

Malicious code in chai-as-init (npm) Remove it immediately and rotate any exposed credentials.

MAL-2026-2891

Immediate action

Remove the package, then rotate any secrets the build/runtime could reach.

npm uninstall chai-as-init

What this malware does

chai-as-init is a malicious npm package that when imported downloads a C2 dropper from https://api.npoint[.]io/c2e881b8bc0fe2121454 and executes it (similar to malware in to chai-await-test).

chai-as-init is a typosquat impersonating chai-as-promised, with a README copy-pasted from pino. The exported middleware spawns a detached background process running lib/initializeCaller.js, which posts the full process.env object (including AWS_*, GITHUB_TOKEN, NPM_TOKEN, CI and other secrets) to a base64-obfuscated endpoint that decodes to https://ipcheck-hashed.vercel.app/api/auth/b4dadd6a26d820d085963. The HTTP response body is then passed to new Function("require", response.data) and invoked with the local require, allowing the operator of that endpoint to execute arbitrary Node.js code in the victim process with full module access. The package's claimed logging/chai purpose is unrelated to the code that actually runs.

Malicious versions

1 flagged

1.4.6

Indicators of compromise (SHA-256)

086ea02015eee2ed739d268574f9f70069e52293a0c16b02b83f76d95c22afae

57086955990a082c75fa9bec1a1b3f57a71eafa6eaef825a9c4d716aac044dca

Frequently asked questions

No. chai-as-init on npm has been identified as a malicious package (version 1.4.6 flagged). It should be removed immediately — do not install or keep it in your dependency tree.

Campaign

IN-MAL-2026-005481

References

Credits

Amazon Inspector · finder
indece · finder

Scan your dependencies

O3 Security blocks malicious packages like this at install time and in CI.

Supply-chain protection