# MAL-2026-14200: Malicious code in chai-as-gateway (npm)


- **Type:** Malicious package
- **Package:** `chai-as-gateway` (npm)
- **Published:** 19 Aug 2026

## What is MAL-2026-14200?

MAL-2026-14200 is a malicious package in chai-as-gateway, published on 19 Aug 2026. 

### Official description

The package advertises itself as a logger (README and type definitions copied wholesale from pinojs/pino) but its exported middleware is a no-op that simply calls next(). index.js unconditionally executes require('./lib/config') at module top level, and lib/config.js is a ~4MB obfuscator.io-style blob (string-array rotate loader, ~24k entries, hex-escaped identifiers) whose only purpose is to run on import. The obfuscated blob contains references to child_process exec/spawn, axios (declared as a runtime dependency in package.json), fs directory traversal via withFileTypes, the path fragment.aws, and the full base64 alphabet — the standard shape of an installer-secret harvester that walks the home directory for AWS credentials and exfiltrates over HTTP. The package name resembles unrelated popular packages, the description string ('vulnerabilities management document') does not match the pino-cloned documentation, and author metadata is a generic hello@jsonspack.com address. Requiring this package auto-executes attacker-controlled code on the installer.

## What should I do about MAL-2026-14200?

Remove the package from your dependencies and lockfiles, then rotate any secrets on machines where it was installed.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
MAL-2026-14200 is a malicious package: chai-as-gateway (npm). Every version was published to cause harm.

Task:
1. Search this repository's dependency manifests and lockfiles for the package, including transitive dependencies.
2. If it is present, remove it, regenerate the lockfile with the project's package manager, and replace whatever it was used for.
3. List any CI runners, developer machines or containers that installed it, so their secrets can be rotated.
4. If the package is not used anywhere, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/MAL-2026-14200/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/MAL-2026-14200/index.md)
```

## Sources

- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/MAL-2026-14200

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From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/MAL-2026-14200/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.