{"answers":{"affected":"1 open source package ship an affected version, including chai-as-persisted.","exploited":"There is no known exploitation of MAL-2026-6544 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-2026-6544 is a malicious package in chai-as-persisted, published on 27 Jun 2026."},"fix_prompt":"MAL-2026-6544 is a malicious package: chai-as-persisted (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-2026-6544/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/MAL-2026-6544/index.md)","id":"MAL-2026-6544","markdown":"https://insights.sbomify.com/MAL-2026-6544/index.md","name":"MAL-2026-6544","record":{"aliases":["GHSA-4wm6-vmww-2544"],"analysis":null,"analysis_generated_by":null,"assigner":null,"cpe":[],"cvss":{"score":null,"severity":null,"source":null,"vector":null,"version":null},"cwes":[],"description":"The package's postinstall script (`npm run smoke:pino`) executes index.js, which spawns a detached `node lib/initializeCaller.js` child. That module hides the C2 URL in base64 strings stored under a fabricated local `process.env` object (keys `DEV_API_KEY`, `DEV_SECRET_KEY`, `DEV_SECRET_VALUE`) to defeat trivial string scanning. At install time it `atob()`-decodes the URL to `https://www.ipregionchecker.org/api/ip-check-encrypted/3aeb34a37`, POSTs to it via axios, and passes the response body to `new Function.constructor('require', response)`, invoking it with `require` — executing attacker-controlled JavaScript with full Node module access on the installer's machine. The detached `child.unref()` keeps execution alive after `npm install` returns. The package name `chai-as-persisted` is a one-edit impersonation of the widely-used `chai-as-promised`; the shipped code is unrelated to chai (it pretends to be a pino-style logger middleware in index.js) and the package description/keywords (logger/stream/json) further misrepresent its purpose. This is a deliberate install-time RCE dropper distributed via a typosquat against chai-as-promised.\n\nAny 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.","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-persisted (npm)","id":"MAL-2026-6544","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":["0"],"last_affected":[],"package":"chai-as-persisted","purl":"pkg:npm/chai-as-persisted","source":"MAL-2026-6544"}],"products":null,"published":"2026-06-27","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-2026-6544/"}