zod-pinonpm
Advisory published Updated
zod-pino is a confirmed malicious npm package (MAL-2026-6273) that steals credentials and exfiltrates sensitive data (malicious versions 1.0.122, 1.0.123, 1.0.124…). Do not install it — remove it immediately and rotate any exposed credentials.
Malicious code in zod-pino (npm)
What this malware does
The package is published under a name suggesting a Pino logger integration for Zod, but the tarball contents do not match that purpose and exhibit multiple installer-harm fingerprints:
- scripts/postinstall-agent.mjs runs at install time and performs outbound network activity (GET requests, ping/host probing, identifier collection). A logging-schema package has no legitimate reason to ship a postinstall agent that beacons out.
- dist/discordRelayUpload.js implements POST-based upload flows with base64 encoding/decoding of payloads and host-reachability probes (ping) — a Discord-channel relay used for off-host data delivery, unrelated to the package's advertised purpose.
- dist/secretScan/contentScanner.js and dist/secretScan/agentStartupAudit.js implement a secret-scanning routine that fetches huggingface.co endpoints from an 'agent startup audit' code path, with base64 buffer handling consistent with credential extraction and transmission.
- dist/hfCredentials.js handles base64-encoded Hugging Face credentials, and dist/deploymentDefaults.js plus scripts/encode-deployment.mjs perform multi-stage base64 decoding of deployment payloads — typical staged-payload obfuscation.
- dist/relayServer.js bundles a long-lived relay/server component with repeated host-probe (ping) primitives.
Taken together — install-time agent with outbound traffic, secret-scanning + credential modules, base64-staged deployment payloads, and a Discord upload relay, all in a package nominally advertised as a zod/pino integration — the shipped behavior matches an exfiltration/relay toolchain rather than a logging utility. Installing this package triggers the postinstall agent automatically.
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
Credential / info stealerFind it
Search your lockfiles and build artifacts for zod-pino (6 malicious versions).
If you installed it — respond
zod-pino 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 zod-pino 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 zod-pino-class packages before install and in CI — and if it already ran, its runtime egress monitoring catches the credential exfiltration and severs the channel.