Malicious NPM packages used to grab data from apps, websites

Researchers from ReversingLabs discovered tens of malicious NPM packages stealing data from apps and web forms.

Researchers from ReversingLabs discovered a couple of dozen NPM packages that included malicious code designed to steal data from apps and web forms on websites that included the modules.

The malicious NPM modules were delivered as part of a widespread campaign, tracked as IconBurst, that according to the experts has been active at least since 2021. One of the tainted packages had been downloaded more than 17,000 times.

“Upon closer inspection, we discovered evidence of a coordinated supply chain attack, with a large number of NPM packages containing jQuery scripts designed to steal form data from deployed applications that include them. While the full extent of this attack isn’t yet known, the malicious packages we discovered are likely used by hundreds, if not thousands of downstream mobile and desktop applications as well as websites.” reads the analysis published by ReversingLabs.

Threat actors relied on typo-squatting, they used packages via public repositories with names that are similar to — or common misspellings of — legitimate packages. Some of the malicious packages impersonated popular NPM modules like umbrellajs and packages published by ionic.io.

Below is the list of malicious packages with the corresponding download count:

Author / Package name	Download count
fontsawesome
ionic-icon	108
ionicio	3,724
ionic-io
icon-package	17,774
ajax-libs	2,440
umbrellaks	686
ajax-library	530
arpanrizki
iconion-package	101
package-sidr	91
kbrstore	89
icons-package	380
subek	99
package-show	103
package-icon	122
kbrstore
icons-packages	170
ionicon-package	64
icons-pack	49
pack-icons	468
ionicons-pack	89
aselole
package-ionicons	144
package-ionicon	57
base64-javascript	40
ionicons-js	38
ionicons-json	39
footericon
footericon	1,903
ajax-libz
roar-01	40
roar-02	37
wkwk100	38
swiper-bundie	39
ajax-libz	40
swiper-bundle	185
atez	43

Experts pointed out that initially, the threat actors took a conservative approach to harvesting form data, but most recently published malicious packages were designed to acquire as much data as possible.

“Analysis of the modules reveals evidence of coordination, with malicious modules traceable to a small number of NPM publishers, and consistent patterns in supporting infrastructure such as exfiltration domains.” conclude the researchers. “This attack marks a significant escalation in software supply chain attacks. Malicious code bundled within the NPM modules is running within an unknown number of mobile and desktop applications and web pages, harvesting untold amounts of user data.”

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Pierluigi Paganini

(SecurityAffairs – hacking, NPM packages)

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