NPM supply chain malware attack targets developers with worm-like propagation, with Infosecurity Magazine reporting the activity on 24 April 2026. According to Socket, the new research describes worm-style techniques that mirror earlier attacks using blockchain-hosted infrastructure, including Internet Computer Protocol (ICP) canisters for command and control.
Impacted packages include multiple versions of @automagik/genie and pgserve, which researchers say harvest data during installation and attempt to republish compromised packages using stolen credentials.
The payload scans infected systems for secrets stored in environment variables and configuration files, targeting cloud credentials, CI/CD tokens, SSH keys and local developer artefacts such as .npmrc and shell histories, and it also seeks browser-stored data and cryptocurrency wallets, including Chrome profiles and extensions like MetaMask and Phantom.
Exfiltration occurs via a standard HTTPS webhook and an ICP endpoint, with data potentially encrypted using AES-256 and RSA methods, though plaintext fallback is possible. Self-propagation features enable the malware to inject malicious code into npm packages and republish them, and it can propagate via Python’s PyPI repository by generating malicious packages using .pth file injection when credentials are present; one affected package reportedly had over 6,700 weekly downloads.