Socket Shai-Hulud November 2025

Shai-Hulud has utilized double-base64 encoding to store stolen secrets within the Github Action Logs within the victim account. Shai-Hulud has also leveraged three layers of base64 encoding of exfiltrated data for anti-forensic purposes.

Shai-Hulud has masqueraded as a legitimate Bun installer.

Shai-Hulud has augmented its installation process by having its original install process exit cleanly to provide the user with the illusion that the service is installed normally.

Shai-Hulud has utilized Linux shell commands to modify configuration files.

Shai-Hulud has used JavaScript to create JSON file output and run scripts using node.js.

Shai-Hulud has gathered victim system information.

Shai-Hulud has downloaded packages from code repositories. Shai-Hulud has also downloaded and executed the secrets-discovery tool TruffleHog to gather sensitive data.

Shai-Hulud has published itself on compromised code repository maintainers within infected packages in attempts to propagate to other victims. Shai-Hulud has also modified versions of code packages.

Shai-Hulud has destroyed the victim’s home directory by overwriting and deleting every writable file within the user's home folder. Shai-Hulud has also utilized the `shred` command on Linux devices.

Shai-Hulud has stolen access tokens and API tokens from with CI/CD pipeline solutions and repositories.

Shai-Hulud has stopped `systemd-resolved` in order to manipulate DNS and firewalls.

Shai-Hulud has inserted a new lifecycle hook to include `postinstall`. Shai-Hulud has also leveraged the NPM lifecycle hook `preinstall`.

Shai-Hulud has attempted to gain root access by leveraging `sudo` and `/etc/sudoers.d`.

Shai-Hulud has leveraged captured valid NPM tokens to enumerate and update packages on compromised accounts. Shai-Hulud has also utilized stolen GitHub access tokens to access compromised accounts.

Shai-Hulud has gathered sensitive data stored in the Node.JS file `process.env` to include credentials and API keys. Shai-Hulud has harvested credentials stored in config files and credential files in victim environments to include `~/.aws/credentials`, `application_default_credentials.json`, and `azureProfile.json`. Shai-Hulud has also targeted credentials and tokens stored in NPM files `.npmrc` and GitHub config files.

Shai-Hulud has suppressed victim NPM warnings using `process[“exit’](0x0);` which results in having all errors exit with code 0.

Shai-Hulud has gathered secrets from AWS Secrets and GCP Secret Manager. Shai-Hulud has also gathered data from Azure Key Vault.

Shai-Hulud has suppressed NPM warnings by silently exiting through the use of the NPM success code that has a setting that all errors exit with `code 0`.

Shai-Hulud has created a repository named `Shai-Hulud` under the compromised account that commits a JSON dump that contains system information, environment variables and collected secrets. Shai-Hulud has also posted stolen credentials to public GitHub repositories.

Shai-Hulud has also leveraged GitHub actions from stolen accounts in order to create a malicious Github workflow within `.github/workflows/discussion.yaml`.

Shai-Hulud has replaced DNS configuration from `/tmp/resolved.conf` in order to gain control of network-level control within CI environments and has flushed iptables rules using `sudo iptables -F OUTPUT` and `sudo iptables -F DOCKER-USER`.