Malicious Code Injection in Beneficial Bear Z3N Package - npm Vulnerability
Summary
MAL-2025-93364: Malicious code in beneficial_bear_z3n (npm). Affected versions are not published. No fix is published. How to fix ↓
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Background
The 'beneficial_bear_z3n' package is part of the npm ecosystem and is associated with the tea.xyz token reward campaign. This package is designed to facilitate token rewards through the automatic generation and publishing of derivative packages. However, it has been identified as containing malicious code that compromises its integrity and the security of the npm registry.
Vulnerability Detail
The vulnerability stems from malicious code embedded in the 'beneficial_bear_z3n' package. This code is designed to modify the package.json file by removing private flags, altering version numbers, and generating random package names. The primary goal of this malicious payload is to inflate developer reputation scores for the tea protocol token rewards by continuously republishing variants, which pollutes the npm registry and can lead to significant security risks for developers relying on this package.
How To Fix
This package is malicious. Remove it and rotate any credentials it could have accessed.
npm uninstall beneficial_bear_z3nIf it arrived as a transitive dependency, remove the package that pulled it in, then reinstall.
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Workaround
As a temporary measure, you can avoid using the 'beneficial_bear_z3n' package altogether. If it is already in use, consider removing it from your package.json and running npm install to clean up your dependencies.
Conclusion
The 'beneficial_bear_z3n' package has been identified as containing malicious code that poses a significant risk to developers and the npm ecosystem. It is essential to remove this package and monitor your dependencies for vulnerabilities to maintain a secure development environment.
See every vulnerability recorded for beneficial_bear_z3n →
FAQ
It is an npm package associated with the tea.xyz token reward campaign, designed to generate and publish derivative packages.
The malicious code modifies your package.json, removes private flags, and can lead to the pollution of the npm registry, affecting the integrity of your dependencies.
You should remove the 'beneficial_bear_z3n' package from your project and monitor for any updates or patches.
You can use Vulert, which monitors and alerts in real-time for open-source vulnerabilities using your package-lock.json. You can check your application for vulnerabilities using the Vulert playground without any signup.
Regularly audit your dependencies, use tools like Vulert for monitoring, and stay updated with the latest security patches for all packages.
