Malicious Code Injection in Influential Duck Dumbs Package
Summary
MAL-2025-104185: Malicious code in influential_duck_dumbs (npm). Affected versions are not published. No fix is published. How to fix ↓
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Background
The 'influential_duck_dumbs' package is part of the npm ecosystem and is associated with the tea.xyz token reward campaign. It is designed to facilitate the automatic generation and publication of derivative packages, which can inflate developer reputation scores. This package is particularly vulnerable due to its inclusion of autopublish scripts that manipulate package metadata.
Vulnerability Detail
The vulnerability originates from the malicious intent behind the 'influential_duck_dumbs' package, which modifies the package.json file to remove private flags, alters version numbers, and generates random package names. This behavior leads to the continuous republishing of variants, polluting the npm registry and potentially compromising the integrity of other packages. The malicious payload can affect developers' reputations and lead to security risks in applications relying on these packages.
How To Fix
This package is malicious. Remove it and rotate any credentials it could have accessed.
npm uninstall influential_duck_dumbsIf 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 prevent the installation of this package by using npm's package-lock.json file to lock your dependencies. This will help mitigate the risk of inadvertently installing the malicious package until a proper fix is applied.
Conclusion
The 'influential_duck_dumbs' package poses a significant risk due to its malicious code that modifies package metadata and repopulates the npm registry with potentially harmful variants. It is crucial to remove this package from your project and monitor your dependencies for any vulnerabilities.
See every vulnerability recorded for influential_duck_dumbs →
FAQ
It is an npm package associated with the tea.xyz token reward campaign, designed to generate and publish derivative packages.
The vulnerability can lead to the pollution of the npm registry, affecting the integrity of your application's dependencies and potentially compromising security.
You should uninstall the 'influential_duck_dumbs' package immediately and check for any dependencies that may rely on it.
There is no patch for the 'influential_duck_dumbs' package since it is recommended to remove it entirely from your project.
You can use Vulert, which monitors and alerts for open-source vulnerabilities in real-time using just your package-lock.json file. You can also check if your application is affected by this vulnerability using the Vulert playground.
