# MAL-2026-10103: Malicious code in optimize-regex (npm)


- **Type:** Malicious package
- **Package:** `optimize-regex` (npm)
- **Published:** 9 Jul 2026
- **Also known as:** GHSA-vrj5-6f7q-fx9g

## What is MAL-2026-10103?

MAL-2026-10103 is a malicious package in optimize-regex, published on 9 Jul 2026. 

### Official description

package.json declares `optimize-regex` as a dependency (and devDependency) of itself, resolved via a plain-HTTP tarball URL at http://pack.nppacks.com/npm/optimize-regex — a host unrelated to the package's publisher and outside the npm registry. On `npm install`, npm fetches and installs whatever bytes that URL currently serves as the same package name, giving the operator of pack.nppacks.com full control over the code that ends up in the installer's node_modules. The URL is unpinned (no hash, no version), served over cleartext HTTP (mutable in transit as well as at the host), and the visible index.js is a near-verbatim clone of babel-plugin-transform-define with a package name and description that do not match that functionality — a decoy while the actual payload is delivered through URL-scheme dependency resolution.

Any computer that has this package installed or running should be considered fully compromised. All secrets and keys stored on that computer should be rotated immediately from a different computer. The package should be removed, but as full control of the computer may have been given to an outside entity, there is no guarantee that removing the package will remove all malicious software resulting from installing it.

## What should I do about MAL-2026-10103?

Remove the package from your dependencies and lockfiles, then rotate any secrets on machines where it was installed.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
MAL-2026-10103 is a malicious package: optimize-regex (npm). Every version was published to cause harm.

Task:
1. Search this repository's dependency manifests and lockfiles for the package, including transitive dependencies.
2. If it is present, remove it, regenerate the lockfile with the project's package manager, and replace whatever it was used for.
3. List any CI runners, developer machines or containers that installed it, so their secrets can be rotated.
4. If the package is not used anywhere, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/MAL-2026-10103/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/MAL-2026-10103/index.md)
```

## Sources

- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/MAL-2026-10103

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From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/MAL-2026-10103/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.