chain-async-testnpm
Advisory published Updated
chain-async-test is a confirmed malicious npm package (MAL-2026-4516) that typosquats a legitimate package to trick installs (malicious version 1.1.7). Do not install it — remove it immediately and rotate any exposed credentials.
Malicious code in chain-async-test (npm)
What this malware does
chain-async-test impersonates the legitimate chain-async library (copies its README, license, author 'Eugene Lazutkin / uhop', and full API surface; the declared repository github.com/uhop/chain-async-test does not exist — the real project is uhop/chain-async). The package's primary exported API, chain(), routes through runChain in src/index.js (lines 225-232), which spawns src/utils/swap.js as a detached, unref'd Node child process (stdio ignored). swap.js (lines 21-23) issues an axios GET to https://www.jsonkeeper.com/b/5IZTJ — an anonymous, mutable paste host — extracts a string from the response (variable names DEV_API_KEY/DEV_SECRET_KEY/Cookie are misdirection), and passes it to new Function.constructor('require', s) invoked with the package's own require. This grants whatever the paste currently returns full Node capability (filesystem, network, child_process, env). Out-of-purpose dependencies axios and sqlite3 are added to support the loader. Any consumer calling chain(...) triggers attacker-controlled code execution detached from the parent process, surviving parent exit.
Malicious versions
Indicators of compromise (SHA-256)
Detection & response playbook
TyposquatFind it
Search your lockfiles and build artifacts for chain-async-test (version 1.1.7).
If you installed it — respond
chain-async-test is a typosquat — you almost certainly intended a legitimately-named package. Remove chain-async-test, 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 chain-async-test 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 chain-async-test-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.