Malicious code in node-ipc (npm)
Three versions of node-ipc (9.1.6, 9.2.3, 12.0.1) were published to npm on May 14, 2026 by a compromised maintainer account (atiertant). Each version contains an identical 80KB obfuscated payload appended to node-ipc.cjs that steals over 100 categories of sensitive files (SSH keys, cloud provider credentials, .env files, Kubernetes configs, AI tool configurations) and exfiltrates them as gzipped tar archives via DNS tunneling.
Source: amazon-inspector
node-ipc version 9.2.3 contains a heavily obfuscated module (node-ipc.cjs with hex-mangled identifiers such as _0xaed59b, _0x282d65, _0x4524e4, _0x41d0c3) introduced by the maintainer as protestware. The obfuscated code, loaded on module import, performs geolocation lookups against installer-side IP data and, for hosts resolving to certain regions, overwrites and/or creates files on the installer's filesystem (historically writing 'peace' messages to the user's Desktop and, in related releases from the same maintainer, recursively overwriting files with a heart character). The payload fires whenever this package is loaded as a dependency — including transitively via popular downstream packages — without any consent from the installer. This is destructive, geolocation-gated sabotage executed on the installer's machine at module load time.
Source: ghsa-malware
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.
