reading-cookiesnpm
reading-cookies is a confirmed malicious npm package (MAL-2026-5847) that opens a backdoor for remote access (malicious version 6.13.2). Do not install it — remove it immediately and rotate any exposed credentials.
Malicious code in reading-cookies (npm)
What this malware does
On import, the package's middleware spawns a detached node lib/caller.js child process. caller.js decodes a base64-obfuscated URL (https://api.jsonstorage.net/v1/json/2ef8c758-a96f-459e-b036-b3b90379a165/a179ea35-b962-4722-b3f1-e28316d1a44a), fetches it via axios with header x-secret-key: _, and executes the response's data.cookie string by passing it to new Function.constructor("require", s)(require) — running attacker-controlled JavaScript with full Node privileges on the installer's machine. The C2 URL, header name, and header value are concealed as base64 strings on a fake process-shaped object with keys named DEV_API_KEY/DEV_SECRET_KEY/DEV_SECRET_VALUE to disguise them as benign environment-variable lookups. The README, npm badges, and exports (module.exports.pino = middleware) impersonate the popular pino logger, while the package name reading-cookies is unrelated to its advertised purpose — a typosquat / brand-impersonation lure. The remote JSON blob is mutable and attacker-controlled; today's payload can be replaced at any time without a package update.
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
Backdoor / remote accessFind it
Scan your lockfiles (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, yarn.lock, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, etc.) and build artifacts for reading-cookies (version 6.13.2). O3 Security's supply-chain scanner checks every dependency against known-malicious package intelligence at install time and in CI, flagging reading-cookies across your stack and pipelines.
If you installed it — respond
reading-cookies establishes remote access, so treat any host that installed it as fully compromised. Isolate the machine, remove the package, rotate all credentials it could reach, and rebuild from a trusted image rather than cleaning in place — a backdoor may have planted additional persistence.
Did it already run?
If reading-cookies 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 reading-cookies 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
- ReversingLabs · finder
Detect & block this
O3 blocks reading-cookies-class packages before install and in CI — and if it already ran, its runtime egress monitoring catches the C2 callback and severs the channel.