selfcertsnpm
selfcerts is a confirmed malicious npm package (MAL-2026-16060) that opens a backdoor for remote access (malicious version 1.0.0). Do not install it — remove it immediately and rotate any exposed credentials.
Malicious code in selfcerts (npm)
What this malware does
index.js reads sample/cert.pem, strips the BEGIN/END CERTIFICATE header and footer, base64-decodes the body, and eval()s the result. The decoded bytes are a JavaScript IIFE that base64-decodes a hardcoded URL (http://144.172.104.211/settings/privacy.php), fetches its response over plain HTTP, and pipes the body into a detached python3 process via stdin, executing whatever the remote host returns. The loader (loadSampleCertificate) is invoked unconditionally at the top of the exported generateCertificates() API, so any consumer that uses the package as advertised triggers remote code execution on the installer's host. Presenting an executable payload as a PEM certificate and nesting the C2 URL under a second base64 layer is deliberate obfuscation with no legitimate role in a certificate-generation library.
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 selfcerts (version 1.0.0). O3 Security's supply-chain scanner checks every dependency against known-malicious package intelligence at install time and in CI, flagging selfcerts across your stack and pipelines.
If you installed it — respond
selfcerts 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 selfcerts 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 selfcerts 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 selfcerts-class packages before install and in CI — and if it already ran, its runtime egress monitoring catches the C2 callback and severs the channel.