laycot

GHSA-rfg6-m87c-vcv3

Malicious code in laycot (npm)

Details

**Severity:** Critical

**Affected versions:** `= 1.3.10`

## Source: amazon-inspector (888eb7470e3887d76a6ecd9ccb3c635fac2e5c9c2726550b2047f7e52d6c6062)
On import, index.js unconditionally calls initialize(), which spawns loader.js as a detached, unref'd, stdio-suppressed child process (windowsHide:true) and writes a.pid file to enforce singleton persistence. loader.js issues an HTTPS GET to https://api.npoint.io/641d37178a880b1e8b8f — a free anonymous JSON-hosting service whose content is fully mutable by whoever holds the bin's edit token — base64-decodes the `code` field of the JSON response, and executes it via `new Function('require','__dirname','__filename','module','exports', decodedCode)`, granting the fetched bytes full Node privileges including `require`. The package's declared identity is a cover story: package.json describes laycot as 'all pro layout cat visible smooth' with education/advanced-testing keywords, the README presents it as `runtime-utils`/`image-utils` with a fake `getProcessInfo` API, and the fetch URL is stored in a variable named `API_KEY` to obscure that it is an HTTP endpoint. The shipped code has no functionality matching any of these descriptions; its sole runtime behavior is the remote-fetch-and-eval loader.

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Credit: [OpenSSF](https://github.com/ossf/malicious-packages) ([source](https://github.com/ossf/malicious-packages/blob/10d2a335f1b89e95ec760fd1659363c576f8a058/osv/malicious/npm/laycot/MAL-2026-16253.json))

**References:**
- https://github.com/ossf/malicious-packages/blob/10d2a335f1b89e95ec760fd1659363c576f8a058/osv/malicious/npm/laycot/MAL-2026-16253.json
- https://www.npmjs.com/package/laycot/v/1.3.10
- https://github.com/ossf/malicious-packages/blob/5d2f44c0017c7ec58963871f5247c9115baa8752/osv/malicious/npm/laycot/MAL-2026-16253.json
- https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-rfg6-m87c-vcv3

Compromised versions (1)

= 1.3.10

Any computer that installed or ran a compromised version should be considered fully compromised. Rotate every secret on that machine from a clean environment.