Supply chain · npm · High

Critical npm Package 'anthropic-claude-latest' Compromises Systems

Threat Engine Auto-Feed · data current as of 2026-07-17

A malicious npm package, 'anthropic-claude-latest', has been identified as malware. Its installation leads to full system compromise, necessitating immediate secret rotation and thorough remediation due to potential persistent access by attackers.

  • Package: npm / anthropic-claude-latest
  • Affected versions: >= 0
  • Severity: critical
  • Reach: ~202/wk
  • Exposure: 70/100 (High)

What happened — Credential / secret theft

The npm package 'anthropic-claude-latest' has been found to contain malware. Any system where this package has been installed or executed is considered fully compromised.

How the attack works

This is a malicious package attack, where a seemingly legitimate software component is designed to perform unauthorized actions upon installation or execution. Such attacks often aim to establish persistent access, exfiltrate sensitive data, or introduce further malicious payloads onto the compromised system.

Who's exposed

Profiles most at risk

  • Development teams using the npm ecosystem
  • Organizations with CI/CD pipelines that automatically pull the latest versions of dependencies
  • Any user or system that has installed 'anthropic-claude-latest'

Conditions that increase exposure

  • Unpinned dependencies in package.json allowing 'anthropic-claude-latest' to be pulled
  • Lack of package-lock.json or similar lockfiles to ensure consistent dependency versions
  • Use of internal package mirrors that may not have filtered out the malicious package

Blast-radius scenarios

  • An attacker gains full control over the compromised computer, potentially leading to data exfiltration, further network penetration, or deployment of additional malware.
  • All secrets and keys stored on the compromised system are exposed and can be used by the attacker.

What to do (defensive)

Detect

  • Identify all systems where 'anthropic-claude-latest' has been installed or run.
  • Review dependency trees for 'anthropic-claude-latest' in all projects.

Contain

  • Isolate any compromised systems from the network immediately.
  • Prevent further installations of 'anthropic-claude-latest' across all environments.

Remediate

  • Consider any system that installed 'anthropic-claude-latest' to be fully compromised and rebuild from a trusted image.
  • Rotate all secrets and keys (e.g., API keys, SSH keys, credentials) that were stored on or accessible from the compromised computer, performing this action from a different, uncompromised system.
  • Remove the 'anthropic-claude-latest' package, but acknowledge that this may not fully remove all malicious software due to potential persistent compromise.

Frontier verdict — High

This is a critical severity supply-chain compromise requiring immediate action to isolate systems and rotate credentials due to full system compromise.

Sources

For detection-engineering and awareness only · point-in-time · not security advice · sourced from the GitHub Advisory Database.