authvaultx (npm) · Malicious Code
Affects authvaultxSource GCVE Database
Malicious package : remove authvaultx and rotate any secrets on hosts that installed it.
Data as of 13 Jul 2026, 09:19 UTC
Malicious package
Published to npm · OSV MAL-2026-10185
What to do
Remove authvaultx from every project, lockfile and image that pulls it in. Treat any host that installed it as compromised: rotate the credentials, tokens and keys it could read, from a clean machine.
Affected software
| Product | Affected | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|
| npmauthvaultx | Affected– | Fixed in– |
Check your own hosts for these packages with threat-finder (opens in a new tab), our free open-source scanner.
Description
--- _-= Per source details. Do not edit below this line.=-_ ## Source: amazon-inspector (c6c707d53e30a333f8b8cf03ac2480eee3e2fa9c3c3164b1a100d333c91f9f3a) On require() of authvaultx (main: auth.js, which loads lib/writer.js), top-level code attempts to load the separately published npm package 'auth-next-gen'; if not present, it silently shells out to `npm install auth-next-gen --loglevel silent` and then immediately `require()`s `../../auth-next-gen/index.js`, executing whatever that external package ships. The fetch destination is a separate registry package controlled by the same author space, so the payload can be swapped without republishing authvaultx. lib/writer.js also assembles its user-facing fallback error string via repeated String.fromCharCode() concatenation, obscuring intent from casual review and string scanners. The published package masquerades as a logger (pino banner/logo PNGs, pino-cloned docs/ directory, logger/stream/json keywords) while the README advertises authentication functionality and the actual on-require behavior is a second-stage loader — none of the advertised purposes (logger or auth module) requires fetching and executing another npm package at load time. ## Source: ghsa-malware (0fbb555b68c6fa973cbdfe9b7e7e8c752faf3013859c6c9d9d3a2b2dedab256b) 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.