Which versions of time-utils-helper are malicious?

The following npm versions of time-utils-helper are flagged malicious: 1.0.0. Treat any of these as compromised.

How do I remediate time-utils-helper if I installed it?

time-utils-helper 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 time-utils-helper — how do I know if it already compromised me?

If time-utils-helper 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 time-utils-helper part of a known attack campaign?

Yes — time-utils-helper is associated with the IN-MAL-2026-014629, RLMA-2026-10799 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 time-utils-helper across my projects, lockfiles, and CI pipelines?

Search your lockfiles and build artifacts for time-utils-helper (version 1.0.0).

Malicious package

time-utils-helpernpm

Advisory published Aug 5, 2026Updated Sep 24, 2026

time-utils-helper is a confirmed malicious npm package (MAL-2026-12225) that steals credentials and exfiltrates sensitive data (malicious version 1.0.0). Do not install it — remove it immediately and rotate any exposed credentials.

Malicious code in time-utils-helper (npm)

MAL-2026-12225

Immediate action

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

npm uninstall time-utils-helper

What this malware does

The package advertises itself as a time-formatting utility (index.js exports formatDate/capitalize/truncate) but ships a postinstall.js lifecycle script that runs on npm install and performs unrelated cloud credential harvesting. postinstall.js uses child_process.exec to shell out to curl against multi-cloud instance metadata services (AWS 169.254.169.254, Aliyun 100.100.100.200, Tencent metadata.tencentyun.com, GCP metadata.google.internal, Azure), extracts AWS IAM security credentials for the instance role into /tmp/.iam-creds, and transmits hostname, user, and the IAM credential material as HTTP GET query-string parameters to the hardcoded Burp Collaborator subdomain pzs5w7ntzhsnepwk564lyfdci3oucl0a.oastify.com. The mismatch between the declared trivial utility purpose and the install-time cloud-metadata scraping identifies the package as a decoy delivery vehicle for credential theft.

Malicious versions

1 flagged

1.0.0

Indicators of compromise (SHA-256)

93cbd818e3b29b2b7c9da6f48b3d82baae1af9bd0fa637a2848749bdfea86084

930b9b1a1f30c53bad6b4d7ab51a91ab6ac49cc9ab5fda079cf74878df61f4b7

Detection & response playbook

Credential / info stealer

Find it
Search your lockfiles and build artifacts for time-utils-helper (version 1.0.0).
If you installed it — respond
time-utils-helper 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 time-utils-helper 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. time-utils-helper on npm has been identified as a malicious package (version 1.0.0 flagged). It should be removed immediately — do not install or keep it in your dependency tree.

Campaign

IN-MAL-2026-014629RLMA-2026-10799

References

npmjs.com

Credits

Amazon Inspector · finder
ReversingLabs · finder

Detect & block this

O3 blocks time-utils-helper-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

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