Malicious Code Injection in Salty Bear Z3N Package - npm Vulnerability
Summary
MAL-2025-108338: Malicious code in salty_bear_z3n (npm). Affected versions are not published. No fix is published. How to fix ↓
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Background
Salty Bear Z3N is an npm package that is part of the tea.xyz token reward campaign. This package is designed to facilitate token rewards for developers by automatically generating and publishing derivative packages. However, it has been identified as containing malicious code that compromises its integrity and the npm ecosystem.
Vulnerability Detail
The vulnerability originates from the malicious payload embedded within the salty_bear_z3n package. This payload modifies the package.json file to remove private flags, alters version numbers, and generates random package names, which leads to the continuous republishing of these variants. This behavior not only inflates developer reputation scores but also pollutes the npm registry, potentially affecting other packages and developers relying on the integrity of the npm ecosystem.
How To Fix
This package is malicious. Remove it and rotate any credentials it could have accessed.
npm uninstall salty_bear_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 this malicious package by using npm's package-lock.json to monitor dependencies. Ensure that your project does not include salty_bear_z3n in its dependencies.
Conclusion
The salty_bear_z3n package poses a significant risk due to its malicious code that alters package metadata and floods the npm registry. It is crucial for developers to remove this package and monitor their dependencies to maintain the integrity of their applications.
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FAQ
The impact includes potential pollution of the npm registry and compromise of developer reputation scores, which can lead to broader security issues in the ecosystem.
You can use Vulert to monitor and alert for open-source vulnerabilities in your software. Visit Vulert Scanner to check if your application is affected without requiring any signup.
You should uninstall the package immediately using 'npm uninstall salty_bear_z3n' to mitigate any risks associated with the vulnerability.
Currently, there is no patch available. It is advisable to remove the package until a secure version is released.
Vulert uses package-lock.json to monitor your dependencies in real-time, alerting you to any open-source vulnerabilities that may affect your application.
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