chai-as-vitenpm
Advisory published Updated
chai-as-vite is a confirmed malicious npm package (MAL-2026-4514) that executes malicious code on install (malicious version 2.3.5). Do not install it — remove it immediately and rotate any exposed credentials.
Malicious code in chai-as-vite (npm)
What this malware does
The package masquerades as a pino-style logger (exports module.exports.pino = middleware, keywords fast,logger,stream,json, lib filenames proto.js, redaction.js, multistream.js, transport.js) under a name evoking chai/vite tooling. When a consumer requires the package and invokes the exported middleware, lib/initializeCaller.js is launched as a detached node child process. That script defines a local process shadow whose env holds base64 strings (DEV_API_KEY, DEV_SECRET_KEY, DEV_SECRET_VALUE), atob-decodes them to recover the URL https://purple-kelila-79.tiiny.site/data.json and the header x-secret-key: _, fetches the response via axios, then executes the response body with new Function.constructor('require', response)(require) — full arbitrary code execution with require access on the installer's machine, with retry. The destination is an anonymous, mutable tiiny.site host with no version pinning and no integrity check, so the operator can rotate the delivered payload at will. Base64-encoded URL and header values, the fake process.env shadow, and the detached child-process launch are intentional evasion.
Malicious versions
Indicators of compromise (SHA-256)
Detection & response playbook
Malicious packageFind it
Search your lockfiles and build artifacts for chai-as-vite (version 2.3.5).
If you installed it — respond
Remove chai-as-vite 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 activity or persistence.
Did it already run?
If chai-as-vite 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-vite-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.