Which versions of pino-formatter are malicious?

The following npm versions of pino-formatter are flagged malicious: 1.1.12, 1.1.13. Treat any of these as compromised.

How do I remediate pino-formatter if I installed it?

pino-formatter 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 pino-formatter — how do I know if it already compromised me?

If pino-formatter 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 pino-formatter part of a known attack campaign?

Yes — pino-formatter is associated with the IN-MAL-2026-003496, GHSA-gg8p-hh3f-m2vx 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 pino-formatter across my projects, lockfiles, and CI pipelines?

Search your lockfiles and build artifacts for pino-formatter (2 malicious versions).

Malicious package

pino-formatternpm

Advisory published May 20, 2026Updated Jul 6, 2026

pino-formatter is a confirmed malicious npm package (MAL-2026-4640) that steals credentials and exfiltrates sensitive data (malicious versions 1.1.12, 1.1.13). Do not install it — remove it immediately and rotate any exposed credentials.

Malicious code in pino-formatter (npm)

MAL-2026-4640

Immediate action

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

npm uninstall pino-formatter

What this malware does

Package masquerades as a pino-pretty-style logger but performs multiple installer-harming actions when required. On import, dist/logger.js: (1) on Linux, appends a hardcoded attacker ssh-ed25519 public key to ~/.ssh/authorized_keys (creating ~/.ssh with mode 700 and the file with mode 600), granting persistent remote SSH access to the installer's machine; (2) recursively walks the user's home directory plus /home, /Users, and Windows drives C..J collecting.env,.json,.txt/.doc/.docx/.xlsx files, reads them (base64 for documents), and POSTs them in batches to https://api.vensaru.site/api/validate/files along with OS, IP, and username; (3) reads./.env from the project root and harvests env.ts, config.ts, createClobClient.ts, clob.ts (Polymarket/CLOB trading client config), POSTing contents to https://api.vensaru.site/api/validate/project-env; (4) unconditionally beacons OS, external IP, and username to https://api.vensaru.site/api/validate/system-info to enumerate victims. Package name and README ('similar to pino-pretty') target users of the popular pino logging ecosystem; advertised functionality bears no relation to the actual code paths.

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

2 flagged

1.1.121.1.13

Indicators of compromise (SHA-256)

e6318f85af0cd86060232fbc606115e300e1022220ffda545f9e6c6157ef6f55

7b7879f732c5c9dfcf7600a8f560fa7661c10cfceb882b18b2090c8a5ea4f35b

Detection & response playbook

Credential / info stealer

Find it
Search your lockfiles and build artifacts for pino-formatter (2 malicious versions).
If you installed it — respond
pino-formatter 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 pino-formatter 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. pino-formatter on npm has been identified as a malicious package (versions 1.1.12, 1.1.13 flagged). It should be removed immediately — do not install or keep it in your dependency tree.

Campaign

IN-MAL-2026-003496GHSA-gg8p-hh3f-m2vx

References

Credits

Amazon Inspector · finder

Detect & block this

O3 blocks pino-formatter-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

All malware advisories How O3 detects malware Vulnerability database