Malicious Code Injection in Rising Quail Z3N Package
Summary
MAL-2025-90225: Malicious code in rising_quail_z3n (npm). Affected versions are not published. No fix is published. How to fix ↓
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Background
The 'rising_quail_z3n' package is part of the npm ecosystem and is associated with the tea.xyz token reward campaign. This package is designed to facilitate the generation and publication of derivative packages, often with randomized names, to inflate developer reputation scores for token rewards. However, it has been identified as containing malicious code that compromises its integrity.
Vulnerability Detail
The vulnerability originates from the package's malicious payload, which modifies the package.json file by removing private flags, altering version numbers, and generating random package names. This behavior leads to the continuous republishing of variants, polluting the npm registry and potentially affecting other developers and applications relying on the npm ecosystem. The malicious scripts (auto.js, autopublish.js, etc.) are designed to automate this process, making it difficult to track and mitigate.
How To Fix
This package is malicious. Remove it and rotate any credentials it could have accessed.
npm uninstall rising_quail_z3nIf 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 prevent the installation of the 'rising_quail_z3n' package by adding it to your project's .npmrc file with the following line: 'package-lock=false'. This will help avoid the automatic installation of this malicious package until a fix is implemented.
Conclusion
The 'rising_quail_z3n' package poses a significant security risk due to its malicious code that alters package configurations and repopulates the npm registry with harmful variants. It is crucial to remove this package from your projects and monitor your dependencies for vulnerabilities to maintain application security.
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FAQ
The 'rising_quail_z3n' package is an npm package involved in the tea.xyz token reward campaign, designed to inflate developer reputation scores through automated package publishing.
The vulnerability can lead to the injection of malicious code into your application, potentially compromising its security and integrity by modifying package configurations and republishing harmful variants.
If you have installed the 'rising_quail_z3n' package, you should uninstall it immediately using 'npm uninstall rising_quail_z3n' and check for any dependencies that may be affected.
Yes, you can use Vulert, which monitors and alerts for open-source vulnerabilities in your software using just the package-lock.json file. You can check your application for vulnerabilities without any signup at the Vulert playground.
Regularly audit your dependencies using tools like npm audit, keep your packages updated, and consider using vulnerability monitoring services like Vulert to receive real-time alerts.
