google-caja-bowernpm
google-caja-bower is a confirmed malicious npm package (MAL-2026-10186) that steals credentials and exfiltrates sensitive data (malicious versions 20.20.20, 999.20.20, 999.99.20…). Do not install it — remove it immediately and rotate any exposed credentials.
Malicious code in google-caja-bower (npm)
What this malware does
[email protected] declares scripts.preinstall = 'node index.js', so index.js runs automatically on npm install. index.js walks the installer's current working directory, builds a directory tree, enumerates up to 500 files (skipping only common binary/media extensions) up to 8MB each, and POSTs the tree plus each file's bytes as multipart uploads to two hardcoded Discord webhook URLs under discord.com/api/webhooks/. The payload also collects os.hostname(), process.env.USER / process.env.USERNAME, os.platform(), and process.cwd() and includes them in the webhook messages. Because the file filter excludes only binary/media types, credential-bearing text files present in the working tree (.env,.npmrc, ssh configs, cloud credentials, source code) are uploaded verbatim. The package name impersonates the Google Caja / Bower namespace and its own package description self-labels the behavior as 'collect and send system information to a remote endpoint'; the webhook message body identifies the campaign as 'Dependency Confusion Crawler'.
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 google-caja-bower (7 malicious versions). O3 Security's supply-chain scanner checks every dependency against known-malicious package intelligence at install time and in CI, flagging google-caja-bower across your stack and pipelines.
If you installed it — respond
google-caja-bower 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 google-caja-bower 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 google-caja-bower 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 google-caja-bower-class packages before install and in CI — and if it already ran, its runtime egress monitoring catches the credential exfiltration and severs the channel.