MAL-2026-14491 Malicious code in chai-as-otc (npm)
Malicious package
Published
MAL-2026-14491 is a malicious package: chai-as-otc (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-2026-14491/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/MAL-2026-14491/index.md)
- Package
- chai-as-otc
- Registry
- npm
What is MAL-2026-14491?
MAL-2026-14491 is a malicious package in chai-as-otc, published on 25 Aug 2026.
Official description
On module load, lib/initializeCaller.js (required from index.js) runs an IIFE that POSTs the full process.env to a base64-obfuscated endpoint decoding to https://ipcheck-hashed.vercel.app/api/auth/6c1d60d35852ef0c05df, then passes the HTTP response body to new Function("require", response.data) and invokes it with require, yielding arbitrary Node code execution on the installer's host at load time. The package is framed as a pino-style logging middleware with a 'Successfully synced!' cover string, but the actual behavior is a covert credential harvester and remote loader.
What should I do about MAL-2026-14491?
Remove the package from your dependencies and lockfiles, then rotate any secrets on machines where it was installed.