  The near infrared background (NIRB) is the collective light from unresolved
sources observed in the band 1-10 $\mu$m. The measured NIRB angular power
spectrum on angular scales $\theta \gtrsim 1$ arcmin exceeds by roughly two
order of magnitudes predictions from known galaxy populations. The nature of
the sources producing these fluctuations is still unknown. Here we test
primordial black holes (PBHs) as sources of the NIRB excess. Considering PBHs
as a cold dark matter (DM) component, we model the emission of gas accreting
onto PBHs in a cosmological framework. We account for both accretion in the
intergalactic medium (IGM) and in DM haloes. We self consistently derive the
IGM temperature evolution, considering ionization and heating due to X-ray
emission from PBHs. Besides $\Lambda$CDM, we consider a model that accounts for
the modification of the linear matter power spectrum due to the presence of
PBHs; we also explore two PBH mass distributions, i.e. a $\delta$-function and
a lognormal distribution. For each model, we compute the mean intensity and the
angular power spectrum of the NIRB produced by PBHs with mass
1-$10^3~\mathrm{M}_{\odot}$. In the limiting case in which the entirety of DM
is made of PBHs, the PBH emission contributes $<1$ per cent to the observed
NIRB fluctuations. This value decreases to $<0.1$ per cent if current
constraints on the abundance of PBHs are taken into account. We conclude that
PBHs are ruled out as substantial contributors to the NIRB.
