Malicious Code Injection in lintang-tea13: A Threat to npm Users
Summary
MAL-2025-158170: Malicious code in lintang-tea13 (npm). Affected versions are not published. No fix is published. How to fix ↓
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Background
lintang-tea13 is an npm package that is part of the tea.xyz token reward campaign. This package is designed to interact with the npm registry, allowing developers to publish and manage packages. However, it has been identified as containing malicious code that can compromise the integrity of the npm ecosystem by generating and publishing derivative packages with harmful scripts.
Vulnerability Detail
The vulnerability in lintang-tea13 originates from its malicious payload, which modifies the package.json file to remove private flags, alters version numbers, and generates random package names. This behavior is intended to inflate developer reputation scores for token rewards, leading to pollution of the npm registry with potentially harmful packages. The autopublish scripts included in the package automate the process of creating and publishing these variants, making it difficult for users to identify and mitigate the threat.
How To Fix
This package is malicious. Remove it and rotate any credentials it could have accessed.
npm uninstall lintang-tea13If 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 lintang-tea13 package from your project by executing the following command: npm uninstall lintang-tea13. This will prevent any malicious code from executing while you assess the situation.
Conclusion
The lintang-tea13 package poses a significant risk due to its malicious code that can compromise the npm registry. Users are urged to take immediate action by updating or uninstalling the package and utilizing tools like Vulert to monitor for vulnerabilities in their applications.
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FAQ
lintang-tea13 is an npm package associated with the tea.xyz token reward campaign, which has been identified to contain malicious code.
The package modifies package.json files, removes private flags, changes version numbers, and publishes derivative packages to inflate developer reputation scores.
You can use Vulert, which monitors and alerts for open-source vulnerabilities in your software. You can check your application using the Vulert playground at Vulert Scanner without any signup.
It is advisable to uninstall the package immediately and check for any updates or patches that may address the vulnerability.
Vulert uses just package-lock.json to monitor and alert in real-time for open-source vulnerabilities, making it easy to keep your applications secure.
