MAL-2026-10583 Malicious code in chalkdev (npm)
Malicious package
Published
MAL-2026-10583 is a malicious package: chalkdev (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-2026-10583/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/MAL-2026-10583/index.md)
- Package
- chalkdev
- Registry
- npm
What is MAL-2026-10583?
MAL-2026-10583 is a malicious package in chalkdev, published on 14 Jul 2026.
Official description
chalkdev is a near-empty package (index.js exports {}, 11-byte README) whose sole runtime behavior is a postinstall hook that runs
.init.js on npm install. .init.js enumerates installer-side secret environment variables (including NPM_TOKEN, GITHUB_TOKEN, AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID/AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY, STRIPE_*, DB_PASSWORD, GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS), reads credential files from the user's home directory (~/.npmrc, ~/.env, ~/.env.local, ~/.env.production, ~/config.json, ~/credentials.json), and scans ~/.config for filenames containing token, cred, or secret. It also collects host identifiers via os.hostname() and os.platform(). The harvested data is POSTed as JSON to a hardcoded https://webhook.cool/at/tender-deer-80/... endpoint. The package name typosquats the popular chalk library.What should I do about MAL-2026-10583?
Remove the package from your dependencies and lockfiles, then rotate any secrets on machines where it was installed.