checkout-common-tokensnpm
Advisory published Updated
checkout-common-tokens is a confirmed malicious npm package (MAL-2026-12351) that typosquats a legitimate package to trick installs (malicious version 20.1.6). Do not install it — remove it immediately and rotate any exposed credentials.
Malicious code in checkout-common-tokens (npm)
What this malware does
On require, index.js loads ext.js which selects a platform-specific payload URL from a rotating list of Cloudflare Workers subdomains (hosts assembled at runtime by joining split string fragments such as ["oob-worker.cf101-adf.workers.d","ev"].join("")), fetches the binary over HTTPS, writes it to /tmp/.cache<hex> on Unix or %TEMP%\dotnet_diag_<hex>.exe on Windows, chmods 0o755, and spawns it detached via /bin/sh -c or cmd.exe. If the HTTPS fetch fails, ext.js falls back to a DNS-TXT covert channel against *.dl.well1.site: a chunk-count TXT lookup at c.<domain> followed by N.<domain> TXT queries whose base64-decoded concatenation is written to disk and executed. Staging file names (.cache, dotnet_diag_.exe,.analytics_state) are chosen to mimic legitimate diagnostic/telemetry artifacts, and destination hostnames are string-split obfuscated to defeat static inspection. The fetched payload is opaque, unpinned, unrelated to any documented package purpose, and executed with the installer's privileges immediately on import.
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 checkout-common-tokens (version 20.1.6).
If you installed it — respond
checkout-common-tokens is a typosquat — you almost certainly intended a legitimately-named package. Remove checkout-common-tokens, 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 checkout-common-tokens 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 checkout-common-tokens-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.