Particle.news
Download on the App Store

PhantomRaven Floods npm With Stealthy Packages That Steal Developer and CI/CD Tokens

Researchers warn that LLM‑inspired package names helped lure developers to 126 booby‑trapped libraries.

Overview

  • Koi Security reports the campaign began in August 2025 and that roughly 80 of the 126 packages were still available when disclosed.
  • The packages use Remote Dynamic Dependencies to pull code from attacker‑controlled HTTP URLs at install time, making them look dependency‑free to scanners.
  • Fresh downloads let operators tailor payloads or delay malware, with execution triggered by lifecycle scripts such as preinstall.
  • The malware profiles systems and exfiltrates npm tokens, GitHub credentials, and CI/CD secrets for GitLab, Jenkins, and CircleCI using HTTP requests or WebSockets.
  • Reported install totals vary across outlets, and Koi published indicators of compromise and a full package list to support detection and auditing.