MAL-2026-12401 Malicious code in mcp-audit-sync-internal (npm)
Malicious package
Published
MAL-2026-12401 is a malicious package: mcp-audit-sync-internal (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-2026-12401/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/MAL-2026-12401/index.md)
- Package
- mcp-audit-sync-internal
- Registry
- npm
What is MAL-2026-12401?
MAL-2026-12401 is a malicious package in mcp-audit-sync-internal, published on 5 Aug 2026.
Official description
[email protected] declares scripts.preinstall = 'node index.js'. On Windows, index.js spawns a hidden PowerShell process that fetches a ZIP from https://files.catbox.moe/5khq55.zip, expands it into %TEMP%, and then Start-Process's the extracted Verification_Tool.exe. The remote artifact is unpinned, unverified (no hash or signature check), delivered from an anonymous throwaway file host unrelated to the package publisher, and the fetch/execute is hidden from the user via -WindowStyle Hidden. This fires automatically on npm install, yielding arbitrary code execution on any Windows installer's host. Package metadata ('Administrative sync tool for corporate environments', author 'IT Compliance') and the 'Verification_Tool.exe' filename are cover-story framing that mismatches the actual behavior; the 99.9.9 version is a placeholder-sentinel shape.
What should I do about MAL-2026-12401?
Remove the package from your dependencies and lockfiles, then rotate any secrets on machines where it was installed.