Fast-Moving Shai-Hulud Attack Infects npm Packages with 2 Billion Monthly Downloads

Published: Aug 4, 2026 — DevOps.com (Jeff Burt)

A rapidly spreading Shai-Hulud supply-chain attack has compromised more than 1,280 npm packages with a combined 2+ billion monthly installs, after attackers hijacked the GitHub account of maintainer jaredwray (keyv/cacheable family) and published malicious updates with valid GitHub Actions provenance.

Evolving package counts (same day)

• Aikido (Ilyas Makari) earlier update: 868 packages across 1,381 versions / 2B+ monthly installs
• Later Aikido (Charlie Eriksen): 50–100 new packages every few minutes, exceeding 1,280 packages
• Downstream org packages named: Deliveroo, OneReach, ServiceTitan, Picsart, Qlik

Attack mechanics

• Malicious files: setup.mjs (preinstall dropper) + Math_Symbol.js (~728 KB obfuscated payload)
• Dropper downloads Bun runtime bun-v1.3.13 and executes credential stealer
• Exfil to attacker GitHub repos described as “Shai-Hulud: Here We Go Again”
• Secrets: npm/GitHub/AWS/K8s/Vault/Stripe/Slack/SSH/VPN/IDE configs; ~200 glob patterns; files >5MB skipped

Remediation (Endor Labs / Aikido)

• Pin/roll back infected packages; use overrides for keyv/flat-cache/file-entry-cache
• Rotate credentials on any machine/runner that ran npm install after ~09:30 UTC Aug 4
• Prefer --ignore-scripts in CI