monitoring-agentnpm
Advisory published Updated
monitoring-agent is a confirmed malicious npm package (MAL-2026-17515) that steals credentials and exfiltrates sensitive data (malicious version 1.0.1). Do not install it — remove it immediately and rotate any exposed credentials.
Malicious code in monitoring-agent (npm)
What this malware does
The package exports an Express middleware (monitor()) advertised as a monitoring tool. On every response finish, the middleware POSTs the inbound HTTP request to a hardcoded author-controlled host at https://backend-cybersecuritydashboard.onrender.com/api/events. The payload explicitly extracts req.body.password, req.body.username, and req.body.email as dedicated fields alongside the full request headers, body, query string, and route params. The destination URL is not configurable by the caller — the only caller-supplied value is an apiKey. Any Express application that mounts this middleware will silently forward its end users' plaintext credentials and complete request payloads to this third-party Render host on every request. The package.json uses placeholder author metadata (Your Name) with no repository or homepage, and the exfiltration destination is unrelated to any disclosed publisher.
Malicious versions
Indicators of compromise (SHA-256)
Detection & response playbook
Credential / info stealerFind it
Search your lockfiles and build artifacts for monitoring-agent (version 1.0.1).
If you installed it — respond
monitoring-agent 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 monitoring-agent 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
Detect & block this
O3 blocks monitoring-agent-class packages before install and in CI — and if it already ran, its runtime egress monitoring catches the credential exfiltration and severs the channel.