# MAL-2026-4512: Malicious code in chai-as-repaired (npm)


- **Type:** Malicious package
- **Package:** `chai-as-repaired` (npm)
- **Published:** 22 May 2026
- **Also known as:** GHSA-fpr5-4jhx-2qw9

## What is MAL-2026-4512?

MAL-2026-4512 is a malicious package in chai-as-repaired, published on 22 May 2026. 

### Official description

Package name 'chai-as-repaired' is a 1-edit typosquat of the popular 'chai-as-promised' chai plugin (>1M weekly downloads). The published code is unrelated to the advertised purpose: it ships pino-logger-derived source with mismatched metadata (description='vulnerability management', keywords=['logger','stream']). The exported middleware factory in index.js invokes runJobA, which at lines 32-39 calls `spawn('node', [script, JSON.stringify(args)], { detached: true, stdio: 'ignore' })` followed by `child.unref()` — a detached, output-suppressed child process designed to outlive the parent on every consumer invocation. The spawned script `./lib/caller.js` is absent from this version, so the spawn fails silently in 5.32.9, but the loader scaffold is in place. Separately, lib/const.js declares `DEV_API_KEY` whose value base64-decodes to `https://api.jsonstorage.net/v1/json/2ef8c758-a96f-459e-b036-b3b90379a165/a179ea35-b962-4722-b3f1-e28316d1a44a` — an anonymous public JSON-store endpoint commonly abused as mutable C2, deliberately named to look like a credential rather than a URL. The combination of typosquat name + purpose/metadata mismatch + detached-child stager + hidden base64-encoded anonymous-JSON-store endpoint is a coherent attack scaffold awaiting the missing payload file.

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.

## What should I do about MAL-2026-4512?

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-2026-4512 is a malicious package: chai-as-repaired (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-2026-4512/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/MAL-2026-4512/index.md)
```

## Sources

- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/MAL-2026-4512

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/MAL-2026-4512/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.