Malicious Code Vulnerability in educational_crawdad_z3n Package
Summary
MAL-2025-94174: Malicious code in educational_crawdad_z3n (npm). Affected versions are not published. No fix is published. How to fix ↓
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Background
The educational_crawdad_z3n package is part of the npm ecosystem, typically used for educational purposes. However, it has been compromised as part of a malicious campaign that floods the npm registry with harmful packages. This package is designed to inflate developer reputation scores through the automatic generation and publication of derivative packages, which can lead to significant security risks.
Vulnerability Detail
The vulnerability originates from a malicious payload embedded within the educational_crawdad_z3n package. This payload modifies the package.json file by removing private flags, altering version numbers, and generating random package names. The malicious scripts (auto.js, autopublish.js, etc.) continuously republish these variants, polluting the npm registry and potentially compromising other packages and applications that rely on this ecosystem. The ramifications include loss of control over package integrity and potential exploitation of applications using these packages.
How To Fix
This package is malicious. Remove it and rotate any credentials it could have accessed.
npm uninstall educational_crawdad_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, you can remove the educational_crawdad_z3n package from your project by using the command: npm uninstall educational_crawdad_z3n. This will prevent any malicious code from executing until a secure version is available.
Conclusion
The educational_crawdad_z3n package has been identified as containing malicious code that poses significant risks to applications using it. It is crucial to take immediate action by updating or removing the package and monitoring for any further vulnerabilities using tools like Vulert.
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FAQ
It is an npm package that was intended for educational purposes but has been compromised with malicious code.
The malicious code can modify your package.json file, remove security flags, and republish harmful variants, potentially compromising your application's integrity.
You should immediately uninstall the package and check for any updates or patches that may address the vulnerability.
You can use tools like Vulert, which monitors your package-lock.json file for open-source vulnerabilities in real-time without requiring code access or installation.
Yes, you can use the Vulert playground at Vulert Scanner to check if your application is affected by this vulnerability without any signup.
