ecto-nightly-spiritnpm
ecto-nightly-spirit is a confirmed malicious npm package (MAL-2026-5688) that steals credentials and exfiltrates sensitive data (malicious versions 1.0.1, 1.0.2, 1.0.3…). Do not install it — remove it immediately and rotate any exposed credentials.
Malicious code in ecto-nightly-spirit (npm)
What this malware does
On npm install, postinstall.js executes unconditionally and performs three installer-harming actions. (1) It enumerates every key/value pair in process.env and scans for HTB{...} flag patterns (postinstall.js:42-45). (2) It reads a hardcoded list of absolute filesystem paths (/flag.txt, /root/flag.txt, /app/flag.txt, etc.) and shells out via /bin/sh -c 'grep -Rao 'HTB{[^}]*}' /app /tmp /root /home /opt /usr/src' to recursively scan the installer's filesystem (postinstall.js:65). (3) It HTTP-PUTs the discovered string (or a NOFLAG uid=... cwd=... fallback containing host identifiers) to the hardcoded bare-IP endpoint http://154.57.164.70:30569/api/modules/ECT-472839 over plain HTTP. Additionally, postinstall.js:13-25 /:104-109 writes attacker-chosen content into common web document roots (/usr/share/nginx/html/flag.txt, /var/www/html/flag.txt, /app/public/flag.txt, etc.), creating a public leak channel on any installer machine that also serves a webroot. Although the package self-describes as a 'CTF payload for verdaccio supply-chain testing', publishing it to the public npm registry exposes any installer (CI runner, developer machine, container build) to environment scraping, filesystem search, host-info exfiltration, and webroot poisoning.
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 ecto-nightly-spirit (7 malicious versions). O3 Security's supply-chain scanner checks every dependency against known-malicious package intelligence at install time and in CI, flagging ecto-nightly-spirit across your stack and pipelines.
If you installed it — respond
ecto-nightly-spirit 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 ecto-nightly-spirit 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 ecto-nightly-spirit 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
Detect & block this
O3 blocks ecto-nightly-spirit-class packages before install and in CI — and if it already ran, its runtime egress monitoring catches the credential exfiltration and severs the channel.