Malicious Code Detected in ixqzse-devapptea: A Threat to npm Ecosystem
Summary
MAL-2025-104488: Malicious code in ixqzse-devapptea (npm). Affected versions are not published. No fix is published. How to fix ↓
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Background
The package ixqzse-devapptea is part of the tea.xyz token reward campaign, which has been associated with a series of malicious activities on the npm registry. This package is designed to incentivize developers through token rewards, but it has been compromised to include harmful scripts that manipulate package metadata and flood the registry with derivative packages.
Vulnerability Detail
The vulnerability in ixqzse-devapptea stems from its inclusion in a malicious campaign that utilizes autopublish scripts to generate and publish numerous derivative packages with randomized names. This not only inflates developer reputation scores but also modifies the package.json file to remove private flags and change version numbers, leading to potential security risks and pollution of the npm registry. The malicious payload can compromise the integrity of applications that depend on this package.
How To Fix
This package is malicious. Remove it and rotate any credentials it could have accessed.
npm uninstall ixqzse-devappteaIf 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 ixqzse-devapptea and any packages that depend on it. Additionally, you can use the following command to uninstall the package: npm uninstall ixqzse-devapptea.
Conclusion
The ixqzse-devapptea package poses a significant risk due to its malicious code that alters package metadata and floods the npm registry. It is essential to remove this package from your projects and monitor for any vulnerabilities using tools like Vulert to maintain the security of your applications.
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FAQ
ixqzse-devapptea is an npm package associated with the tea.xyz token reward campaign, which has been compromised to include malicious code.
The malicious code can modify your package.json file, remove private flags, and flood the npm registry with unwanted packages, potentially compromising your application's integrity.
You should uninstall the package immediately and check for any dependencies that may have been affected.
Yes, you can use Vulert, which monitors and alerts for open-source vulnerabilities in real-time using just your package-lock.json file. You can check your application for vulnerabilities using the Vulert playground without any signup.
Regularly audit your dependencies, keep your packages updated, and utilize tools like Vulert to monitor for vulnerabilities.
