Malicious Code Injection in Competitive Cockroach Z3N Package
Summary
MAL-2025-93672: Malicious code in competitive_cockroach_z3n (npm). Affected versions are not published. No fix is published. How to fix ↓
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Background
The 'competitive_cockroach_z3n' package is part of the npm ecosystem and is associated with the tea.xyz token reward campaign. This package is designed to facilitate the automatic generation and publication of derivative packages, which can inflate developer reputation scores for token rewards. However, it has been identified as containing malicious code that compromises its integrity.
Vulnerability Detail
The vulnerability originates from the package's involvement in a campaign that floods the npm registry with malicious packages. The malicious code modifies the package.json file by removing private flags, altering version numbers, and generating random package names, which leads to the continuous republishing of these variants. This not only pollutes the npm registry but also poses a risk to developers who may unknowingly use these compromised packages.
How To Fix
This package is malicious. Remove it and rotate any credentials it could have accessed.
npm uninstall competitive_cockroach_z3nIf it arrived as a transitive dependency, remove the package that pulled it in, then reinstall.
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Workaround
As a temporary workaround, it is advisable to avoid using the 'competitive_cockroach_z3n' package until a secure version is released. Additionally, consider using alternative packages that provide similar functionality without the associated risks.
Conclusion
The 'competitive_cockroach_z3n' package has been identified as containing malicious code that compromises its integrity and poses risks to developers. It is crucial to update or remove this package from your projects to maintain security. Utilizing tools like Vulert can help monitor for such vulnerabilities in real-time.
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FAQ
The vulnerability involves malicious code that alters package.json files and floods the npm registry with compromised packages.
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Using the compromised package can lead to security breaches, data leaks, and the introduction of unwanted code into your application.
Regularly monitor your dependencies using tools like Vulert, which alerts you in real-time for open-source vulnerabilities.
Remove the package from your project immediately and update to a secure version or use an alternative package.
