MAL-2026-4455

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Import Source
https://github.com/ossf/malicious-packages/blob/main/osv/withdrawn/npm/@thebros/create-benjamin/MAL-2026-4455.json
JSON Data
https://api.osv.dev/v1/vulns/MAL-2026-4455
Withdrawn
2026-05-26T21:14:22Z
Published
2026-05-22T09:56:48Z
Modified
2026-05-27T00:31:51Z
Summary
Malicious code in @thebros/create-benjamin (npm)
Details

-= Per source details. Do not edit below this line.=-

Source: amazon-inspector (53fb816939bb505cdabc374418983428298b09a29e5789033943301642b8b156)

The package tarball ships a .env file containing a live-looking OpenAI API key (OPENAI_API_KEY=sk-proj-...). The CLI entry point bin/index.js calls import "dotenv/config" at line 3, which auto-loads that .env from the package directory at startup. At line 13 the key is read via process.env.OPENAI_API_KEY. Two installer-affecting consequences result: (1) the author's third-party API credential is redistributed to every installer of the package, who can extract it from the tarball and abuse it against OpenAI under the author's account; (2) when a user runs create-benjamin without setting their own OPENAI_API_KEY, their project-description prompt is silently sent to OpenAI billed against the author's account, with no disclosure that a hardcoded key is in use. The key should be revoked, removed from the published tarball, and the CLI should require the user to provide their own key.

Database specific 
{
    "malicious-packages-origins": [
        {
            "id": "IN-MAL-2026-004182",
            "import_time": "2026-05-26T05:52:05.839568774Z",
            "modified_time": "2026-05-22T09:56:48Z",
            "sha256": "53fb816939bb505cdabc374418983428298b09a29e5789033943301642b8b156",
            "source": "amazon-inspector",
            "versions": [
                "1.0.12"
            ]
        }
    ]
}
References
Credits

Affected packages

npm / @thebros/create-benjamin

Package

Name
@thebros/create-benjamin
View open source insights on deps.dev
Purl
pkg:npm/%40thebros%2Fcreate-benjamin

Affected ranges

Affected versions

1.*
1.0.12

Database specific

cwes 
[
    {
        "cweId": "CWE-506",
        "description": "The product contains code that appears to be malicious in nature.",
        "name": "Embedded Malicious Code"
    }
]
indicators 
{
    "evidence_files": [
        {
            "path": ".env",
            "sha256": "dee487b5dd4667c91c0e4671ea7ea41c6303a0a1e8a962b9cc17b569b7742aa3",
            "tlsh": "fec080a9958c344558dc1d111d38b4f6172d7c1d20d2ad7336d3d0d675480104df051c"
        }
    ],
    "package_integrity": [
        {
            "filename": "create-benjamin-1.0.12.tgz",
            "hashes": {
                "sha1": "a34a6fdc991963e8d4fae97583cbfd397afad3e7",
                "sha512_sri": "sha512-+Tp76Nf4KInSbX/MPBtLeIpgUjFP4RLTf+gF9LwvzCLyrNfyoWSDOk1Ycr0JoZNQ/3V7T58KTY/G2axHyFSw/Q=="
            }
        }
    ]
}
source 
"https://github.com/ossf/malicious-packages/blob/main/osv/withdrawn/npm/@thebros/create-benjamin/MAL-2026-4455.json"