Malicious Code Injection in Productive Earthworm Dumbs Package
Summary
MAL-2025-107305: Malicious code in productive_earthworm_dumbs (npm). Affected versions are not published. No fix is published. How to fix ↓
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Background
The 'productive_earthworm_dumbs' package is part of the npm ecosystem and is associated with the tea.xyz token reward campaign. This package is designed to facilitate the automatic generation and publication of derivative packages, often with randomized names, to inflate developer reputation scores. Its functionality is compromised by malicious scripts that modify package metadata, leading to potential security risks.
Vulnerability Detail
The vulnerability originates from the presence of malicious code within the 'productive_earthworm_dumbs' package. This code is designed to alter the package.json file by removing private flags, changing version numbers, and generating random package names. The continuous republishing of these variants pollutes the npm registry, potentially leading to security breaches and reputational damage for developers. The malicious payload can also facilitate unauthorized access to sensitive data or systems, making it critical to address this issue promptly.
How To Fix
This package is malicious. Remove it and rotate any credentials it could have accessed.
npm uninstall productive_earthworm_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 execution of the malicious scripts by setting up a strict npm policy that disallows the installation of untrusted packages. You can do this by adding the following line to your .npmrc file: 'strict-ssl=true'. This will help mitigate the risk until the package is removed or patched.
Conclusion
The 'productive_earthworm_dumbs' package poses a significant security risk due to its malicious code that alters package metadata and repopulates the npm registry with potentially harmful variants. It is crucial to uninstall this package and monitor your project for vulnerabilities to maintain a secure development environment.
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FAQ
It is an npm package associated with the tea.xyz token reward campaign, designed to generate and publish derivative packages.
The malicious code modifies your package.json file, potentially exposing your project to security risks and polluting the npm registry.
You should uninstall the package immediately using 'npm uninstall productive_earthworm_dumbs' and check for any other vulnerabilities in your dependencies.
Yes, you can use Vulert to monitor your project for open-source vulnerabilities in real-time by analyzing your package-lock.json file.
Yes, you can use the Vulert playground at Vulert Scanner to check for vulnerabilities in your application without any signup.
