Malicious Code Injection in Toxic Duck Z3N Package
Summary
MAL-2025-97042: Malicious code in toxic_duck_z3n (npm). Affected versions are not published. No fix is published. How to fix ↓
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Background
The 'toxic_duck_z3n' 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. This package is particularly vulnerable due to its inclusion of scripts that manipulate package metadata, leading to potential abuse in the npm registry.
Vulnerability Detail
The vulnerability originates from the package's malicious scripts, which are designed to modify the package.json file by removing private flags, altering version numbers, and generating random package names. This behavior can lead to the pollution of the npm registry, inflate developer reputation scores fraudulently, 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 toxic_duck_z3nIf it arrived as a transitive dependency, remove the package that pulled it in, then reinstall.
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Workaround
As a temporary workaround, you can avoid using the 'toxic_duck_z3n' package and look for alternative packages that provide similar functionality without the associated risks. Additionally, regularly audit your package dependencies using tools like npm audit.
Conclusion
The 'toxic_duck_z3n' package poses a significant risk due to its malicious code that alters package metadata. It is crucial to remove this package from your projects and monitor your dependencies for any vulnerabilities. Utilizing tools like Vulert can help maintain the security of your applications.
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FAQ
It is an npm package associated with the tea.xyz token reward campaign, designed to automatically publish derivative packages.
The malicious code can lead to the pollution of the npm registry and may introduce security risks to your application by modifying package metadata.
You should uninstall the 'toxic_duck_z3n' package immediately and check for any dependencies that may be affected.
No patches are available for the 'toxic_duck_z3n' package; the best course of action is to remove it from your project.
You can use tools like Vulert, which monitors your package-lock.json file to alert you in real-time for open-source vulnerabilities.
