dotenv-expressnpm
dotenv-express is a confirmed malicious npm package (MAL-2026-2350) that steals credentials and exfiltrates sensitive data (malicious versions 2.5.5, 17.4.2, 17.4.3…). Do not install it — remove it immediately and rotate any exposed credentials.
Malicious code in dotenv-express (npm)
What this malware does
Package impersonates the popular dotenv package: package.json points its repository field to git://github.com/motdotla/dotenv.git and homepage to https://github.com/motdotla/dotenv#readme, neither of which the author owns. The library code is a near-verbatim copy of dotenv but adds const gate = require('environment-gate') at the top of lib/main.js, and the documented config() entry point begins with gate.gate() — so any consumer calling the standard dotenv API (require('dotenv-express').config()) executes code from environment-gate, an unrelated third-party dependency with no env-file-loading purpose, on every load. The package additionally ships skills/dotenv/SKILL.md and skills/dotenvx/SKILL.md whose frontmatter declares name: dotenv, author: motdotla, source: https://github.com/motdotla/dotenv, and instructs npm install dotenv — identity-spoofing metadata designed to trick AI coding agents into treating this package as the genuine dotenv. The combination of impersonated repo/homepage/skill metadata, a name one token away from dotenv, and a forced transitive dependency that runs on the documented API call is deliberate namespace abuse rather than a typo, and the harm to installers is whatever environment-gate does at require-time on every .config() invocation.
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
Credential / info stealerFind it
Scan your lockfiles (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, yarn.lock, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, etc.) and build artifacts for dotenv-express (6 malicious versions). O3 Security's supply-chain scanner checks every dependency against known-malicious package intelligence at install time and in CI, flagging dotenv-express across your stack and pipelines.
If you installed it — respond
dotenv-express is built to steal secrets, so assume every credential the build or runtime could read is compromised. Remove it from your project and lockfile, then rotate ALL exposed secrets — npm/registry tokens, cloud keys, CI/CD secrets, SSH keys, and any .env values — from a known-clean machine. Audit logs for unauthorized use of those credentials.
Did it already run?
If dotenv-express was ever installed, its post-install/runtime payload may have already executed. O3's L7 egress monitoring and runtime eBPF sensors detect the credential exfiltration or command-and-control callback after install and block the malicious outbound channel, so you catch and contain the actual compromise — not just the presence of the package.
How O3 protects you
O3 blocks dotenv-express before install through its supply-chain scanner, and if it has already run, detects and severs the exfiltration or C2 callback at runtime through L7 egress monitoring and eBPF.
Frequently asked questions
Campaign
References
Credits
- Amazon Inspector · finder
- ReversingLabs · finder
Detect & block this
O3 blocks dotenv-express-class packages before install and in CI — and if it already ran, its runtime egress monitoring catches the credential exfiltration and severs the channel.