MAL-2026-12396 Malicious code in log-min (npm)
Malicious package
Published
MAL-2026-12396 is a malicious package: log-min (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-2026-12396/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/MAL-2026-12396/index.md)
- Package
- log-min
- Registry
- npm
What is MAL-2026-12396?
MAL-2026-12396 is a malicious package in log-min, published on 5 Aug 2026.
Official description
The package publishes as 'log-min' with a description claiming it is a JavaScript library for the Theta Blockchain, while its README identifies the project as 'chain-sdk-js' — an impersonation of the Theta chain-sdk-js SDK. package.json declares postinstall 'node src', which loads src/providers/BaseProvider.js. That module's top-level IIFE imports an opaque blob 'desKey' from the 'thedata' npm dependency, DES-decrypts it with the hardcoded password 'hydra', spawns a detached 'node' child process with piped stdin and ignored stdio, writes the decrypted code into the child's stdin, and unrefs the child so it survives the installer. The identical decrypt-and-exec pattern is also present at the top level of the shipped CJS bundle dist/log-min.cjs.js, so the dropper fires both at 'npm install' via the postinstall hook and whenever any consumer require()s the package. The executed bytes originate in a separate dependency ('thedata') and are not present in the log-min tarball, giving the author of that dependency arbitrary code execution on any machine that installs or imports log-min.
What should I do about MAL-2026-12396?
Remove the package from your dependencies and lockfiles, then rotate any secrets on machines where it was installed.