Malicious Code Injection in psychiatric_turkey_z3n Package
Summary
MAL-2025-89541: Malicious code in psychiatric_turkey_z3n (npm). Affected versions are not published. No fix is published. How to fix ↓
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Background
The psychiatric_turkey_z3n package is part of the npm ecosystem, which is widely used for JavaScript package management. This package has been identified as part of a malicious campaign that aims to inflate developer reputation scores through the creation and publication of numerous derivative packages. The malicious nature of this package compromises its integrity and poses a risk to developers and users relying on npm for secure package management.
Vulnerability Detail
The vulnerability stems from the package's involvement in the tea.xyz token reward campaign, which utilizes scripts to automatically generate and publish derivative packages with randomized names. This malicious payload modifies the package.json file to remove private flags, alters version numbers, and continuously republishes variants, thereby polluting the npm registry. The ramifications include potential security risks for applications using this package, as it can lead to the installation of untrusted and malicious code.
How To Fix
This package is malicious. Remove it and rotate any credentials it could have accessed.
npm uninstall psychiatric_turkey_z3nIf it arrived as a transitive dependency, remove the package that pulled it in, then reinstall.
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Workaround
As a workaround, you can avoid using the psychiatric_turkey_z3n package altogether. If it is already included in your project, remove it by executing: npm uninstall psychiatric_turkey_z3n. Additionally, consider using Vulert to monitor your project for vulnerabilities. You can check if your application is affected by this vulnerability using the Vulert playground at https://vulert.com/scanner without any signup.
Conclusion
The psychiatric_turkey_z3n package poses a significant security risk due to its malicious code designed to manipulate npm registry entries. It is crucial for developers to remove this package and utilize tools like Vulert to ensure their applications remain secure from such vulnerabilities.
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FAQ
The psychiatric_turkey_z3n package is an npm package that has been identified as part of a malicious campaign to inflate developer reputation scores.
The vulnerability can lead to the installation of untrusted code, potentially compromising the security and functionality of your application.
You should uninstall the psychiatric_turkey_z3n package immediately and monitor your project for any vulnerabilities using tools like Vulert.
As of now, there is no patched version available. It is best to remove the package entirely.
You can use Vulert, which monitors and alerts for open-source vulnerabilities in your software using just package-lock.json. Visit https://vulert.com for more information.
