event-emitter-testmetestnpm
Advisory published Updated
event-emitter-testmetest is a confirmed malicious npm package (MAL-2026-18178) that steals credentials and exfiltrates sensitive data (malicious versions 1.0.6, 1.0.7, 4.1.0…). Do not install it — remove it immediately and rotate any exposed credentials.
Malicious code in event-emitter-testmetest (npm)
What this malware does
event-emitter-testmetest was published by npm account testnewtestme2 on 2026-10-21, first to test the delivery chain of data-pipeline-testmetest 2.0.1 and then to ship it. 1.0.6 and 1.0.7 ship an obfuscated index.js loader that decrypts a filler stage and pipes it into Bun with the full environment: 1.0.6 runs it on load, 1.0.7 on npm install via a binding.gyp source <!(env node index.js >/dev/null 2>&1; echo stub.c). 4.1.0 and 5.0.0 ship rebuilds of the full stealer behind the same binding.gyp hook: inline in index.js in 4.1.0, and in an encrypted data.bin that index.js decrypts in 5.0.0. Other versions carry no executable payload.
The package's main (index.js) is a multi-layer obfuscated loader: a String.fromCharCode-reconstructed string is Caesar-shifted (k=19) and eval'd, which then AES-128-GCM-decrypts a hardcoded hex ciphertext using embedded key/iv/authTag and executes the plaintext via a dynamic Function(module, require, process, Buffer, __filename, __dirname, <plaintext>) call, giving the decrypted bytes full Node module, require, and process access. The payload is opaque to any installer. binding.gyp declares a target with no native source files and uses GYP command-expansion (<!(env node index.js...)) in sources, which runs the loader during node-gyp rebuild — npm invokes node-gyp automatically whenever binding.gyp is present, so the loader runs on npm install even though package.json.scripts contains no install hook. The same loader also executes whenever another module requires this package. The stacked charcode+Caesar+AES-GCM obfuscation and the use of a no-sources binding.gyp purely to trigger node-gyp are consistent only with hiding and auto-executing attacker-controlled code against the installer host.
Malicious versions
Indicators of compromise (SHA-256)
Detection & response playbook
Credential / info stealerFind it
Search your lockfiles and build artifacts for event-emitter-testmetest (4 malicious versions).
If you installed it — respond
event-emitter-testmetest 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 event-emitter-testmetest 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
- Robin Frehner, Protet · finder
Detect & block this
O3 blocks event-emitter-testmetest-class packages before install and in CI — and if it already ran, its runtime egress monitoring catches the credential exfiltration and severs the channel.