MAL-2026-17189 Malicious code in chai-as-relay (npm)

Package main index.js unconditionally requires./lib/config at module load. lib/config.js is a single-line ~4.4MB obfuscator.io-packed IIFE (hex-escaped string-array of 26,102 entries, rotated with wrapper decoders, control-flow flattening, ~133k transform changes) that self-invokes at top level. Any consumer that require('chai-as-relay') executes this opaque bundle in-process. The remainder of the tarball (README, LICENSE, index.d.ts, lib/proto, etc.) is copied verbatim from the legitimate pino logger project, and index.js additionally exports a no-op Express-style middleware — the package's advertised identity is a cover for the dropper. The package.json name (chai-as-relay) and author ([email protected]) have no relationship to pino or its maintainers. A heavily obfuscated, multi-megabyte, self-executing blob wired into the require entry of a package that impersonates a top-tier logger has no legitimate purpose and gives whoever controls the payload arbitrary code execution on every installer that imports the package.