tensorlake npm 0.5.144 compromised (Shai-Hulud credential stealer with a token 'dead-man's switch'): how do I check if I installed it and clean up safely?

What happened: On October 8, 2026 the npm package tensorlake published version 0.5.144 with a Shai-Hulud-family worm. It runs from a preinstall hook, so installing it is enough, even if your code never imports the SDK. It steals npm, GitHub, cloud (AWS), Kubernetes, Vault and SSH credentials, .env files and AI tool configs. It can republish packages the victim maintains, plants GitHub Actions workflows and edits files such as .claude/settings.json and .vscode/tasks.json in repositories. The version has been removed from npm, and the likely cause was a compromised maintainer account. Am I affected? - Search lockfiles and CI logs: grep -rn 'tensorlake' package-lock.json pnpm-lock.yaml yarn.lock, and look for 0.5.144 specifically. Check every machine and CI runner that ran an install between October 8 and its removal. IMPORTANT, order of cleanup: The malware installs a monitor that watches a stolen GitHub token. Researchers report that if the token is revoked while the monitor is still running, it runs a handler that wipes the user's home directory. So on an infected machine: 1. Disconnect it from the network or isolate it, and back up anything you need. 2. Find and remove the persistence first. Socket documents a user-level service or launch agent named gh-token-monitor on Linux/macOS and an at-logon scheduled task running monitor.ps1 on Windows. Also check for other unexpected scheduled tasks, systemd user units and LaunchAgents. 3. Only then revoke and replace credentials: npm tokens, GitHub PATs and SSH keys, cloud keys, Kubernetes and Vault tokens, everything in .env files, and LLM/AI tool API keys. Do the revoking from a clean machine. Fix: - Remove tensorlake 0.5.144, pin a version other than 0.5.144 (a known-good earlier release or the maintainers' post-incident release), and reinstall from a clean lockfile with npm ci. - Consider npm install --ignore-scripts in CI and a minimum release age for new versions, so a fresh malicious release doesn't install automatically. After cleanup: - Audit your GitHub org for workflows you didn't write, new deploy keys and unexpected pushes. Check .claude/settings.json and .vscode/tasks.json in your repos for added commands. - Check npm for versions of your own packages you didn't publish, and deprecate or unpublish them. - Review cloud audit logs (e.g. CloudTrail) for activity from the exposed keys. Sources: https://socket.dev/blog/tensorlake-compromise https://www.endorlabs.com/learn/tensorlake-npm-package-compromised-by-shai-hulud-in-latest-software-supply-chain-attack https://thehackernews.com/2026/10/tensorlake-npm-package-compromised-to.html