registry / pino-ulid / 2.12.3

pino-ulid@2.12.3

OSV Malicious Advisory

imported 25d ago · by OpenSSF/OSV

OpenSSF/OSV advisory MAL-2026-16154 confirms this npm version as malicious. pino-ulid impersonates the popular `pino` and `ulid` packages (homepage points at github.com/ulid/javascript) and ships a genuine ULID code path as cover. The package.json `postinstall` hook runs `node dist/node/utils.js`, which spawns `dist/node/payload.js` detached with stdio ignored and unref'd, gated by a minimum CPU-count check (sandbox evasion) and a prior-install check against schtasks / HKCU Run / launchd /...

Advisory

MAL-2026-16154

Source

OpenSSF Malicious Packages via OSV

Summary

Malicious code in pino-ulid (npm)

Details

pino-ulid impersonates the popular `pino` and `ulid` packages (homepage points at github.com/ulid/javascript) and ships a genuine ULID code path as cover. The package.json `postinstall` hook runs `node dist/node/utils.js`, which spawns `dist/node/payload.js` detached with stdio ignored and unref'd, gated by a minimum CPU-count check (sandbox evasion) and a prior-install check against schtasks / HKCU Run / launchd / systemd / autostart. The bundled 466 KB `dist/node/payload.js` self-labels as `Package-bin Agent - Bundled payload`, includes the `ws` client, decodes a hardcoded configuration via `Buffer.from(enc, 'base64')`, derives a per-host id via `getSystemMachineId`/`defaultAgentId`, and opens a WebSocket control channel. Its `ws.on('message',...)` handler reaches `execSync`/`spawnSync` sinks and writes attacker-supplied `task.contentBase64` bytes to disk via `writeFile`, providing remote shell execution and arbitrary file drop on the installer's host. The agent installs cross-platform boot persistence: a systemd user unit at `~/.config/systemd/user/pkg-agent.service` and/or `~/.config/autostart/pkg-agent.desktop` on Linux, `~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.launchkeeper.pkg-agent.plist` on macOS, and a Task Scheduler entry plus `HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run` value `pkg-agent` on Windows. Running `npm install pino-ulid` installs a persistent remotely-controlled agent unrelated to the advertised ULID functionality.

Decision reason

OpenSSF Malicious Packages via OSV confirms pino-ulid@2.12.3 as malicious (MAL-2026-16154): Malicious code in pino-ulid (npm)

References

OSV advisory PACKAGE

Source & flagged code

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Findings

1 High

HighOsv Malicious Advisory

Affected versions and remediation

This report applies to pino-ulid@2.12.3.

The same advisory and Firewall decision cover 2 recorded versions

2.12.3, 2.12.2

See version security history for other recorded verdicts.

Avoid installing pino-ulid@2.12.3. Remove it from direct dependencies and check your lockfile for transitive copies.
Choose an independently verified alternative or release. This report does not establish that other versions are safe.
If this version ran, investigate the affected machine and build environment. Rotate credentials it could access and rebuild from a trusted environment.

Evidence last updated: 2026-09-14 18:30:41.193Z (UTC).

Source advisory published: 2026-09-14 18:08:59.000Z (UTC).

This report uses published external intelligence. The advisory does not provide a separate source-code analysis for each listed version.