MAL-2026-12422 Malicious code in quorvex (npm)
Malicious package
Published
MAL-2026-12422 is a malicious package: quorvex (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-2026-12422/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/MAL-2026-12422/index.md)
- Package
- quorvex
- Registry
- npm
What is MAL-2026-12422?
MAL-2026-12422 is a malicious package in quorvex, published on 5 Aug 2026.
Official description
[email protected] ships index.mjs as the package main, containing a base64-encoded Windows PE (~355KB) in a PAYLOAD constant. At import time on Windows hosts with more than 4GB of RAM, the code decodes the payload and writes it to %APPDATA%/Microsoft/Windows/Start Menu/Programs/Startup/vite-native-helper.exe, causing Windows to auto-execute the dropped binary at the next user logon. The README self-describes the package as a placeholder with 'nothing in here yet' while documenting deliberate anti-tree-shaking design ('index.mjs performs a real import-time assignment… that no bundler can prove is inert') to ensure the drop runs when the module is loaded. The vite-native-helper.exe filename and Vite-adjacent naming are a cover story; the memory-size gate is a sandbox-evasion check. Installing or importing this package on a Windows host results in an opaque attacker-controlled binary being placed in the user's Startup folder with logon-time persistence.
What should I do about MAL-2026-12422?
Remove the package from your dependencies and lockfiles, then rotate any secrets on machines where it was installed.