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OpenAdvisories
Malicious MAL-2026-16542

zeal-utils

npm package · versions 0.0.0

Reported Sep 22, 2026 · Updated Sep 30, 2026

If this package is installed

Remove it, treat the machine (or CI runner) as compromised, and rotate every secret, token and key it could access — from a different, clean machine.

Details

Source: amazon-inspector (f7a4b9b4fcb0a48aa3602fc7bc865eff738f8ab42a4c9e56ea31e70b0b6b826f)
canary.js in zeal-utils@0.0.0 collects host reconnaissance data (os.hostname(), os.userInfo(), process.platform, cwd, node version) and POSTs it to the hardcoded external endpoint https://npm-canary.aveliscare.com. The destination is not a package registry or documented vendor endpoint and is unrelated to any legitimate utility functionality implied by the package name. The package name and near-empty version (0.0.0) combined with a single script that beacons system identification to an author-controlled host is consistent with a dependency-confusion or canary-token style beacon that identifies internal build environments where the package resolves.