Malicious code in kecak256 (npm)

kecak256 is a typosquat of the popular keccak256 package (one c dropped) that ships a credential-stealing payload executed automatically on install.

The package spoofs the legitimate keccak256 project — author "Miguel Mota", matching description, README, and keywords — and includes a benign decoy hash implementation (kecak256.js) as main.

package.json defines scripts.postinstall: node init.m.js && echo DONE, and declares archiver, axios, and form-data as runtime dependencies (the exfiltration toolchain).

init.m.js (launcher): RC4 + base64 string obfuscation. On Windows it spawns a hidden PowerShell (-WindowStyle Hidden -ExecutionPolicy Bypass) that Start-Process-launches upchk.m.js under node; on other platforms it spawns node upchk.m.js detached ({detached:true, windowsHide:true, stdio:'ignore'}) and calls child.unref() to orphan the process.

upchk.m.js (stage 2, ~63 KB obfuscated): performs an isAdmin() privilege check, targets browser/credential stores (observed string targets include Chrome Login Data, keystore, cc_appkey), archives collected data into npmupdate.zip via archiver, and exfiltrates it in 5 MB chunks via axios + FormData to a runtime-decoded C2 URL (uploadFileChunks(file, sUrl, 5MB)).

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Source: amazon-inspector (96b5e944a53a17f8f09fb68b1577592760eae7ff8da438663a3f4d6b1153db79)

Package name kecak256 is a single-character deletion of the widely-used keccak256 package by Miguel Mota, and package.json sets author.name to 'Miguel Mota' — matching the legitimate package's maintainer identity. The code in kecak256.js is a verbatim copy of the legitimate keccak256 implementation: it exports a clean keccak256() function with no lifecycle scripts, no network I/O, no obfuscation, no credential reads, and no eval/exec. At this version the package is functionally benign, but the name-confusion shape combined with author impersonation is a supply-chain hygiene concern: developers who mistype keccak256 resolve to this package, and the namespace is positioned for a future malicious update under an impersonated identity. Routing for human review since name-similarity judgments are subjective and no installer-harm payload is present in this version.

Source: ghsa-malware (558c8dc29d2f864f51bea9c39fd8af25714a650a35d008d4142acd5c402a1b3c)

Any computer that has this package installed or running should be considered fully compromised. All secrets and keys stored on that computer should be rotated immediately from a different computer. The package should be removed, but as full control of the computer may have been given to an outside entity, there is no guarantee that removing the package will remove all malicious software resulting from installing it.