{"answers":{"affected":"1 open source package ship an affected version, including chai-as-balanced.","exploited":"There is no known exploitation of MAL-2026-10040 in the wild and no public exploit code.","fix":"Remove the package from your dependencies and lockfiles, then rotate any secrets on machines where it was installed.","what":"MAL-2026-10040 is a malicious package in chai-as-balanced, published on 9 Jul 2026."},"fix_prompt":"MAL-2026-10040 is a malicious package: chai-as-balanced (npm). Every version was published to cause harm.\n\nTask:\n1. Search this repository's dependency manifests and lockfiles for the package, including transitive dependencies.\n2. If it is present, remove it, regenerate the lockfile with the project's package manager, and replace whatever it was used for.\n3. List any CI runners, developer machines or containers that installed it, so their secrets can be rotated.\n4. If the package is not used anywhere, say so and change nothing.\n\nReference: https://insights.sbomify.com/MAL-2026-10040/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/MAL-2026-10040/index.md)","id":"MAL-2026-10040","markdown":"https://insights.sbomify.com/MAL-2026-10040/index.md","name":"MAL-2026-10040","record":{"aliases":[],"analysis":null,"analysis_generated_by":null,"assigner":null,"cpe":[],"cvss":{"score":null,"severity":null,"source":null,"vector":null,"version":null},"cwes":[],"description":"chai-as-balanced is a typosquat of chai-as-promised (also impersonating pino via README/badges/exports) that ships a remote code execution dropper. lib/const.js defines a fake process.env object whose DEV_API_KEY value is a base64-encoded URL to api.jsonstorage.net (an anonymous, attacker-mutable JSON storage service). lib/caller.js base64-decodes that URL, GETs the JSON blob using an obfuscated x-secret-key header, extracts the `cookie` field, and executes it via `new Function.constructor('require', s)(require)` — granting the fetched payload full Node privileges and access to the real `require`. index.js triggers this by spawning lib/caller.js as a detached, stdio-ignored child with `child.unref()`, so the dropper runs in the background and outlives the parent invocation, concealing execution from the caller. Because the payload source is anonymous and mutable, the executed code can change at any time without a new package release. Installers who mistype `chai-as-promised` as `chai-as-balanced` and invoke the exported middleware receive arbitrary attacker-controlled code execution.","ecosystems":["npm"],"exploits":{"exploitdb":null,"first_seen":null,"github_poc":null,"max_poc_stars":null,"metasploit":null,"nuclei":null,"refs":[],"tier":null},"has_fix":false,"headline":"Malicious code in chai-as-balanced (npm)","id":"MAL-2026-10040","indexable":true,"kev":null,"kind":"malicious","links":{"ecosystem":"npm","product":null,"products":[],"type":null,"year":"2026"},"n_packages":1,"n_references":null,"packages":[{"ecosystem":"npm","fixed":[],"introduced":[],"last_affected":[],"package":"chai-as-balanced","purl":"pkg:npm/chai-as-balanced","source":"MAL-2026-10040"}],"products":null,"published":"2026-07-09","related":[],"sources":[{"class":"attribution","licence":"Apache-2.0","name":"OpenSSF Malicious Packages","prefix":"MAL"}],"ssvc":{"automatable":null,"exploitation":null,"technical_impact":null},"state":null,"updated":null,"vendors":null},"summary":null,"url":"https://insights.sbomify.com/MAL-2026-10040/"}