Malicious Code Injection in Theoretical Salmon 0xRequest Package
Summary
MAL-2025-109592: Malicious code in theoretical_salmon_0xrequest (npm). Affected versions are not published. No fix is published. How to fix ↓
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Background
Theoretical Salmon 0xRequest is an npm package that is part of the tea.xyz token reward campaign. It is designed to facilitate interactions with the tea protocol, which incentivizes developers through token rewards. However, this package has been compromised, leading to significant security concerns.
Vulnerability Detail
The vulnerability originates from malicious code embedded within the theoretical_salmon_0xrequest package. This code is designed to modify the package.json file by removing private flags, altering version numbers, and generating random package names. The malicious payload continuously republishes these variants to the npm registry, which can lead to reputation inflation for developers and pollution of the registry with potentially harmful packages.
How To Fix
This package is malicious. Remove it and rotate any credentials it could have accessed.
npm uninstall theoretical_salmon_0xrequest
If 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 avoid using the theoretical_salmon_0xrequest package and look for alternative packages that provide similar functionality without the associated risks.
Conclusion
The theoretical_salmon_0xrequest package poses a significant security risk due to its embedded malicious code. It is essential to uninstall this package and monitor your project for any vulnerabilities to maintain the integrity of your software.
See every vulnerability recorded for theoretical_salmon_0xrequest →
FAQ
It is an npm package associated with the tea.xyz token reward campaign, designed for interactions with the tea protocol.
The malicious code modifies your package.json file, removes private flags, and can lead to the publication of harmful packages in the npm registry.
You should uninstall the package immediately using the command npm uninstall theoretical_salmon_0xrequest.
Yes, consider looking for other npm packages that provide similar functionality without the security risks.
You can use Vulert, which monitors and alerts for open-source vulnerabilities in real-time using just your package-lock.json file. You can also check your application for vulnerabilities using the Vulert playground at Vulert Scanner.