chai-as-smartnpm
Advisory published Updated
chai-as-smart is a confirmed malicious npm package (MAL-2026-10046) that steals credentials and exfiltrates sensitive data (malicious version 2.3.5). Do not install it — remove it immediately and rotate any exposed credentials.
Malicious code in chai-as-smart (npm)
What this malware does
On require, index.js spawns lib/initializeCaller.js as a detached background process. That script decodes a base64-hidden URL (https://ipcheck-hashed.vercel.app/api/auth/6c1d60d35852ef0c05df), POSTs the caller's full process.env to that endpoint via axios, and then passes the HTTP response body into new Function('require', response.data) and immediately invokes it with the real require, giving the remote server arbitrary code execution inside the installer's Node.js process. The C2 URL and headers are stored as base64 inside fake object literals labeled DEV_API_KEY/DEV_SECRET_KEY, and the package name and package.json keywords (fast, logger, stream, json) masquerade as a pino-style logger middleware to lure installers into requiring it. The combined behavior — environment-variable exfiltration to a hardcoded attacker endpoint plus remote-fetched code execution with full require access — compromises any machine that installs or imports this package, exposing tokens, cloud credentials, and CI secrets and enabling full follow-on RCE.
Malicious versions
Indicators of compromise (SHA-256)
Detection & response playbook
Credential / info stealerFind it
Search your lockfiles and build artifacts for chai-as-smart (version 2.3.5).
If you installed it — respond
chai-as-smart 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-smart 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-smart-class packages before install and in CI — and if it already ran, its runtime egress monitoring catches the credential exfiltration and severs the channel.