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Malicious package

compress-water-cluster-slow-catnpm

Advisory published Updated

compress-water-cluster-slow-cat is a confirmed malicious npm package (MAL-2025-186264) that executes malicious code on install. Do not install it — remove it immediately and rotate any exposed credentials.

Malicious code in compress-water-cluster-slow-cat (npm)

MAL-2025-186264
Immediate action
Remove the package, then rotate any secrets the build/runtime could reach.
npm uninstall compress-water-cluster-slow-cat

What this malware does

This package appears to be part of the tea.xyz token reward campaign that flooded npm. These packages typically contain autopublish scripts (auto.js, autopublish.js, autopublish2.js, autopublish3.js) designed to automatically generate and publish derivative packages with randomized names to inflate developer reputation scores for tea protocol token rewards. The malicious payload modifies package.json to remove private flags, changes version numbers, generates random Indonesian-themed package names (some variants are also in English), and continuously republishes variants to pollute the npm registry.

Malicious versions

all versions

Every published version of this package is considered malicious — remove it entirely.

Indicators of compromise (SHA-256)

562f9b245b30c1699990c7a16e89d8683682dfec4887a6054b862b4e36fb2163

Detection & response playbook

Malicious package

  1. Find it

    Search your lockfiles and build artifacts for compress-water-cluster-slow-cat (all published versions).

  2. If you installed it — respond

    Remove compress-water-cluster-slow-cat 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.

  3. Did it already run?

    If compress-water-cluster-slow-cat 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

No. compress-water-cluster-slow-cat on npm has been identified as a malicious package (all published versions flagged). It should be removed immediately — do not install or keep it in your dependency tree.

Credits

  • Amazon Inspector · finder

Detect & block this

O3 blocks compress-water-cluster-slow-cat-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.

Malware detection Runtime egress monitoring

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compress-water-cluster-slow-cat (npm) malicious package — MAL-2025-186264 | O3 Security