Malicious Code Injection in criminal_cardinal-silentdev Package
Summary
MAL-2025-101074: Malicious code in criminal_cardinal-silentdev (npm). Affected versions are not published. No fix is published. How to fix ↓
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Background
The criminal_cardinal-silentdev package is part of the npm ecosystem, which is widely used for JavaScript development. This package is associated with the tea.xyz token reward campaign, which has been known to flood npm with various packages. Its primary functionality is to serve as a tool for developers, but it has been compromised to include malicious scripts that can affect the integrity of the npm registry.
Vulnerability Detail
The vulnerability originates from the criminal_cardinal-silentdev package, which contains malicious code designed to manipulate the npm registry. This code modifies the package.json file by removing private flags, altering version numbers, and generating random package names. The malicious payload continuously republishes these variants, leading to pollution of the npm registry and potential exploitation of developers' reputation scores for token rewards. This poses significant risks, including the potential for unauthorized access to sensitive data and the degradation of the npm ecosystem's reliability.
How To Fix
This package is malicious. Remove it and rotate any credentials it could have accessed.
npm uninstall criminal_cardinal-silentdevIf it arrived as a transitive dependency, remove the package that pulled it in, then reinstall.
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Workaround
As a temporary workaround, you can avoid using the criminal_cardinal-silentdev package altogether and look for alternative packages that provide similar functionality without the associated risks.
Conclusion
The criminal_cardinal-silentdev package poses a significant risk due to its malicious code that manipulates the npm registry. It is crucial for developers to be vigilant and remove any instances of this package from their projects. Utilizing tools like Vulert can help in monitoring and identifying vulnerabilities in real-time.
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FAQ
It is an npm package that has been compromised to include malicious code aimed at manipulating the npm registry.
The vulnerability can lead to unauthorized modifications in your project's dependencies and potentially expose sensitive data.
You should uninstall the criminal_cardinal-silentdev package immediately and check for any other compromised packages in your project.
Yes, tools like Vulert can monitor your package-lock.json file for open-source vulnerabilities in real-time without requiring code access.
You can use the Vulert playground at Vulert Scanner to check if your application is affected by this vulnerability without needing to sign up.
