OpenSSF/OSV advisory MAL-2026-4518 confirms this npm version as malicious. cheaty-sync-bot ships a clipboard-sync CLI that hardcodes a single Telegram bot token (index.js:10) owned by the package author. There is no configuration path for installers to supply their own bot — every user of this tool connects to the same author-controlled relay...
Source
OpenSSF Malicious Packages via OSV
Summary
Malicious code in cheaty-sync-bot (npm)
Details
cheaty-sync-bot ships a clipboard-sync CLI that hardcodes a single Telegram bot token (index.js:10) owned by the package author. There is no configuration path for installers to supply their own bot — every user of this tool connects to the same author-controlled relay. Two concrete harms result: (1) Silent-relay: clipboard contents (text and images) and installer chat identifiers flow through the author's Telegram bot, giving the author visibility into every installer's session via getUpdates polling. (2) Backdoor / remote code execution: incoming Telegram messages are interpolated into a PowerShell command (`powershell -Command "Set-Clipboard -Value \"${escapedText}\""`) at index.js:31-34 and passed to `exec()`. The escaping only replaces double quotes with backtick-quotes; PowerShell metacharacters such as backticks, `$(...)` subexpressions, and newlines are not sanitized, so anyone holding the bot token (the author, or anyone who obtains it) can send a crafted message to any installer running the CLI and achieve arbitrary command execution on the Windows host.
Decision reason
OpenSSF Malicious Packages via OSV confirms cheaty-sync-bot@1.0.0 as malicious (MAL-2026-4518): Malicious code in cheaty-sync-bot (npm)