Malicious code in cheerio-tool (npm)
cheerio-tool typosquats the popular cheerio HTML parser (README claims 'Cheerio Tool utility helpers', keywords are 'lodash','utilities', and index.js self-describes as 'lodash-js — Just a dummy module. The real payload is in postinstall.js'). On npm install, the declared postinstall script node postinstall.js runs a credential harvester and crypto-wallet scanner. It reads installer secret files including ~/.npmrc, ~/.env, and ~/.git-credentials, extracts npm auth tokens (_authToken, npm_[A-Za-z0-9]{36}), API keys, database URLs, AWS/GCP cloud credentials, payment keys, and webhook secrets. It enumerates Chrome, Brave, Edge, Chromium, Vivaldi, and Opera profile directories, iterates Local Extension Settings/<wallet-id> against 71 hardcoded browser wallet extension IDs (MetaMask nkbihfbeogaeaoehlefnkodbefgpgknn, Phantom, Coinbase, Trust, Ledger, Trezor, etc.), and regex-matches vault, mnemonic, seed phrase, private key, and encrypted-blob material from the LevelDB .log files. It additionally scans ~/Documents, ~/Desktop, and ~/Downloads for files matching seed/backup/wallet/phrase/crypto/metamask/phantom/vault/key/private and checks contents against BIP-39 wordlists. Collected data is bundled with hostname and username and POSTed to hardcoded http://149.28.127.35:8888 (plain HTTP, bare IPv4, overridable via C2_URL env var). The source self-identifies as 'Token harvester + Crypto wallet scanner — Runs on npm install. Silent. Zero trace.' Any developer or CI system that installs this package loses their npm publish token, project environment secrets, git credentials, and browser-resident cryptocurrency wallet seed phrases.
MAL-2026-3756 is recorded against 1 package.
Published on 14 May 2026 and last revised on 15 May 2026. No public exploit is currently recorded for this entry. Record sourced from OSV.
www.npmjs.com (Package)
www.npmjs.com (Package)
www.npmjs.com (Package)
Details
Affected Packages
| Software | From version | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|
| cheerio-tool | — | — |
References
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