Suspicious Credential File Harvesting of NPM Claude and SSH Secrets

ATT&CK techniques

Cred Access

Recon
Resource Dev
Initial Access
Execution
Persistence
Priv Esc
Defense Evasion
Cred Access
- T1552.001Credentials In Files
- T1552.004Private Keys
Discovery
Lateral Movement
Collection
C2
Exfiltration
Impact

What it detects

This rule detects a command that reads sensitive credential files including the npm token store the Claude MCP configuration and SSH private keys. Malicious npm packages harvest these files to steal registry tokens API keys and keys for onward access. Detecting bulk reads of these secret paths reveals credential theft staged from a compromised developer machine.

Reporting behind it

Related detections9 linkedT1552.001 — drag to rearrange

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Suspicious Shai-Hulud Worm Stager Execution from Temp (via process_creation)

Suspicious prt-scan Campaign Credential Harvesting via proc environ Scan (via process_creation)

Possible Stolen AWS Credential Validation via STS GetCallerIdentity

Suspicious Credential File Harvesting of NPM Claude and SSH Secrets

Pivot detection · T1552.001 · 9 related

Detection content is published as a reviewed draft. Tune thresholds and exclusions against your own telemetry before enabling this rule for alerting.

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