chaikitnpm
chaikit is a confirmed malicious npm package (MAL-2026-14201) that typosquats a legitimate package to trick installs (malicious version 2.3.5). Do not install it — remove it immediately and rotate any exposed credentials.
Malicious code in chaikit (npm)
What this malware does
The package's main entry (index.js) unconditionally requires./lib/config, a ~4MB obfuscator.io-style file (RC4 string-array decoder with ~23,902 entries, hex-encoded property names) whose top-level IIFE self-executes on load. Any consumer that imports chaikit runs this opaque code in their process. The advertised middleware in index.js is a trivial next() passthrough, so the obfuscated blob is the only substantive behavior of the package. package.json bundles axios as a runtime dependency, giving the opaque code a network egress channel. The README impersonates the pino logger (pino badges, pinojs/pino links, chai/chai-kit usage snippet), while the package.json description is unrelated boilerplate ('management of vulnerabilities') and file.js references a nonexistent./pino module — cover-story metadata consistent with a package published to be resolved by developers searching for chai or pino tooling. The combination of import-time execution of a large opaque blob, a mismatched cover story, and a bundled HTTP client is the canonical loader shape of an installer-harm supply-chain payload.
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
Search your lockfiles and build artifacts for chaikit (version 2.3.5).
If you installed it — respond
chaikit is a typosquat — you almost certainly intended a legitimately-named package. Remove chaikit, 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 chaikit 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 chaikit-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.