Keyv-Linked npm Worm Poisons Hundreds of Packages, Plants Claude Code and VS Code Hooks

Summary

A credential-stealing npm worm that first appeared in keyv@6.0.0 spread beyond the Keyv and Cacheable namespaces into hundreds of packages across multiple organisations on 4 August 2026. SafeDep verified 353 poisoned versions across 79 package names in the npm registry, while Aikido later reported at least 868 packages across 1,381 versions.

Details

The malicious release used a preinstall script to run a credential-stealing bundle inside developer and CI environments, harvesting repository, package registry, cloud and private-key material. The Keyv repository also retained separate Claude Code and Vs Code hooks that execute the payload once a user trusts the workspace. The worm then used available npm publishing access to poison more packages in a self-propagating chain. This is relevant to Australian software development teams and CI/CD pipelines — any organisation using npm packages should immediately audit their dependency trees for affected Keyv or Cacheable namespace packages and review CI/CD secrets. The incident follows the earlier 18 malicious npm packages targeting Alibaba tool users, signalling a sustained offensive against the npm supply chain.

Sources

• The Hacker News
• raw/digests/Cyber-Digest-2026-08-05