Malicious Code Injection in rita-11 Package: A Threat to npm Ecosystem
Summary
MAL-2025-164880: Malicious code in rita-11 (npm). Affected versions are not published. No fix is published. How to fix ↓
Check if this vulnerability affects your application
Upload a manifest or SBOM and we'll show whether you're affected, plus every other risky package in the same scan.
No signup required · Results in about 60 seconds
Background
The rita-11 package is part of the npm ecosystem and is associated with the tea.xyz token reward campaign. It is designed to facilitate the automatic generation and publication of derivative packages. However, this package has been identified as malicious, containing scripts that manipulate package metadata and flood the npm registry with unwanted variants.
Vulnerability Detail
The vulnerability in the rita-11 package originates from its malicious intent to modify the package.json file by removing private flags, altering version numbers, and generating random package names. This behavior is intended to inflate developer reputation scores for token rewards, leading to pollution of the npm registry. The presence of autopublish scripts allows for continuous republishing of these variants, which can compromise the integrity of the npm ecosystem and potentially introduce security risks to applications relying on these packages.
How To Fix
This package is malicious. Remove it and rotate any credentials it could have accessed.
npm uninstall rita-11If it arrived as a transitive dependency, remove the package that pulled it in, then reinstall.
Tip — Not sure whether your app is affected? Vulert can check the versions your app actually runs. Scan free →
Workaround
As a temporary workaround, you can avoid using the rita-11 package and replace it with a secure alternative. Additionally, you can monitor your package dependencies using tools like Vulert, which can alert you to vulnerabilities in real-time without requiring code access. You can check if your application is affected by this vulnerability using the Vulert playground at https://vulert.com/scanner.
Conclusion
The rita-11 package poses a significant threat to the npm ecosystem due to its malicious code that modifies package metadata and floods the registry. It is crucial for developers to remove this package and monitor their dependencies for vulnerabilities to maintain the integrity of their applications.
See every vulnerability recorded for rita-11 →
FAQ
The rita-11 package is an npm package associated with the tea.xyz token reward campaign, designed to automate the generation of derivative packages.
The vulnerability can lead to the pollution of the npm registry, potentially introducing malicious code into your application if you rely on compromised packages.
You should remove the rita-11 package from your project and consider replacing it with a secure alternative.
You can use Vulert to monitor your package-lock.json for vulnerabilities in real-time without needing to access your code.
Yes, you can use the Vulert playground at Vulert Scanner to check if your application is affected by the rita-11 vulnerability.
