chai-as-syncednpm
chai-as-synced is a confirmed malicious npm package (MAL-2026-6497) that typosquats a legitimate package to trick installs (malicious versions 6.0.3, 7.0.9). Do not install it — remove it immediately and rotate any exposed credentials.
Malicious code in chai-as-synced (npm)
What this malware does
[email protected] impersonates the pino logger: it ships pino's README, LICENSE, docs/, index.d.ts and lib/ file layout (proto.js, levels.js, redaction.js, transport.js, worker.js, tools.js, multistream.js) with pino's keywords (fast,logger,stream,json), while package.json declares an unrelated name and author (Robert King [email protected], bugs URL https://jsonspack.com/issues) and a boilerplate description unrelated to logging. index.js unconditionally executes require('./lib/config') at module top level. lib/config.js is not pino's config module; it is a ~4MB single-line obfuscator.io bundle (rotated string array of ~23,868 entries, hex-escaped identifiers, control-flow flattening, nested decoder functions) that auto-runs the moment any consumer imports the package. The package also declares axios ^1.10.0 as a runtime dependency although the visible wrapper (a no-op express middleware) has no HTTP use, positioning the hidden payload to perform network I/O at import. The combination of deceptive identity, hidden obfuscated payload, import-time auto-execution, and a bundled HTTP client is a covert-code-execution shape inconsistent with any legitimate logging library.
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
Indicators of compromise (SHA-256)
Detection & response playbook
TyposquatFind it
Scan your lockfiles (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, yarn.lock, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, etc.) and build artifacts for chai-as-synced (2 malicious versions). O3 Security's supply-chain scanner checks every dependency against known-malicious package intelligence at install time and in CI, flagging chai-as-synced across your stack and pipelines.
If you installed it — respond
chai-as-synced is a typosquat — you almost certainly intended a legitimately-named package. Remove chai-as-synced, install the correct package, and rotate any secrets exposed during the install since post-install scripts may have already run.
Did it already run?
If chai-as-synced 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 chai-as-synced 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
Detect & block this
O3 blocks chai-as-synced-class packages before install and in CI — and if it already ran, its runtime egress monitoring catches the malicious outbound activity and severs the channel.