Which versions of minimalistic-assert-plus are malicious?

The following npm versions of minimalistic-assert-plus are flagged malicious: 1.1.7. Treat any of these as compromised.

How do I remediate minimalistic-assert-plus if I installed it?

minimalistic-assert-plus is a typosquat — you almost certainly intended a legitimately-named package. Remove minimalistic-assert-plus, install the correct package, and rotate any secrets exposed during the install since post-install scripts may have already run.

I already installed minimalistic-assert-plus — how do I know if it already compromised me?

If minimalistic-assert-plus 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 minimalistic-assert-plus part of a known attack campaign?

Yes — minimalistic-assert-plus is associated with the IN-MAL-2026-017642 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 minimalistic-assert-plus across my projects, lockfiles, and CI pipelines?

Search your lockfiles and build artifacts for minimalistic-assert-plus (version 1.1.7).

Malicious package

minimalistic-assert-plusnpm

Advisory published Aug 13, 2026Updated Aug 13, 2026

minimalistic-assert-plus is a confirmed malicious npm package (MAL-2026-13954) that typosquats a legitimate package to trick installs (malicious version 1.1.7). Do not install it — remove it immediately and rotate any exposed credentials.

Malicious code in minimalistic-assert-plus (npm)

MAL-2026-13954

Immediate action

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

npm uninstall minimalistic-assert-plus

What this malware does

The package typosquats minimalistic-assert and re-ships the Chai library alongside a malicious dispatcher. On require('minimalistic-assert-plus'), index.js spawns a detached Node child (spawn('node', [assertion,...], {detached:true, stdio:'ignore'})) that runs lib/chai/utils/expectAssertion.js. That file is heavily obfuscated (obfuscator.io string-array + base64 rotation, hex-named identifiers such as _0x4b784f, _0x51bd34) and at runtime constructs an HTTP URL, performs an http.get, and passes the response body to new Function(..., body)(require) — evaluating attacker-supplied JavaScript with the real Node require in scope. Stdio is ignored and the process is detached to evade observation. Package metadata is deceptive: name mimics minimalistic-assert, description is copied from Chai, and homepage points to minimalistic-assert-plus.com.

Malicious versions

1 flagged

1.1.7

Indicators of compromise (SHA-256)

e59f4af9a6f3f95bf4cf795fb91bcf4c7934dbb90e64d750255a2a786ed7dc75

Detection & response playbook

Typosquat

Find it
Search your lockfiles and build artifacts for minimalistic-assert-plus (version 1.1.7).
If you installed it — respond
minimalistic-assert-plus is a typosquat — you almost certainly intended a legitimately-named package. Remove minimalistic-assert-plus, 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 minimalistic-assert-plus 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. minimalistic-assert-plus on npm has been identified as a malicious package (version 1.1.7 flagged). It should be removed immediately — do not install or keep it in your dependency tree.

Campaign

IN-MAL-2026-017642

References

npmjs.com

Credits

Amazon Inspector · finder

Detect & block this

O3 blocks minimalistic-assert-plus-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.

Malware detection Runtime egress monitoring

Explore

All malware advisories How O3 detects malware Vulnerability database