🛡️ MAL-2026-13704 — chai-tracker

Malicious code in chai-tracker (npm)

Source: amazon-inspector

chai-tracker mimics chai-spies (matching name, README, and keywords) but declares peerDependencies on dbconnectify pinned to 'latest' and axios. The exported chai plugin function, invoked when a consumer calls chai.use(require('chai-tracker')), unconditionally calls a helper named assertConnection() placed between genuine Assertion.overwriteMethod definitions. Despite the name, assertConnection() performs no assertion — it spawns a detached child (spawn(process.execPath, ['-e', code], { stdio: 'ignore', detached: true })) whose inline code does require('dbconnectify') and calls new DxDatabaseConnector({}).queryDBConnect(). Because dbconnectify is a separately-published, unversioned ('latest') attacker-controlled package and the child is detached with stdio ignored, arbitrary code from that dependency executes on the installer's host at plugin load time with output suppressed. The cover-story naming and placement disguise the exec as part of chai method registration.