# MAL-2026-12193: Malicious code in sextant-relay-darwin-arm64 (npm)


- **Type:** Malicious package
- **Package:** `sextant-relay-darwin-arm64` (npm)
- **Published:** 5 Aug 2026

## What is MAL-2026-12193?

MAL-2026-12193 is a malicious package in sextant-relay-darwin-arm64, published on 5 Aug 2026. 

### Official description

The tarball contains a single darwin/arm64 Mach-O Go executable at bin/sextant-relay (~6 MB, stripped) and a minimal package.json with no scripts, main, or bin entry — the package is designed to be selected as a platform-specific optional dependency of a parent package and invoked from there. The binary belongs to project github.com/ddos798/claude_control (referenced from package.json's license field) and its symbol table imports github.com/coder/websocket alongside a handleAgent routine and pseudo-terminal primitives (pty allocation, reader/writer state paired with WebSocket connection state). Together these produce a WebSocket-to-PTY relay: bytes arriving from a remote WebSocket peer are written into a local pty, and pty output is returned over the same socket, giving the operator of the WebSocket server interactive shell control on the host that runs the binary. The package name and description present the binary as a benign 'relay', which does not match its actual behavior. No install-time or import-time execution fires from this sub-package alone; the harm is realized when the parent package invokes the binary on a matching darwin/arm64 host.

## What should I do about MAL-2026-12193?

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-2026-12193 is a malicious package: sextant-relay-darwin-arm64 (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-2026-12193/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/MAL-2026-12193/index.md)
```

## Sources

- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/MAL-2026-12193

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/MAL-2026-12193/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.