MAL-2026-12509 Malicious code in @shiftmarkets/shift-exchange-root (npm)
Malicious package
Published
MAL-2026-12509 is a malicious package: @shiftmarkets/shift-exchange-root (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-2026-12509/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/MAL-2026-12509/index.md)
- Package
- @shiftmarkets/shift-exchange-root
- Registry
- npm
What is MAL-2026-12509?
MAL-2026-12509 is a malicious package in @shiftmarkets/shift-exchange-root, published on 5 Aug 2026.
Official description
On npm install, the package's postinstall hook (scripts.postinstall: 'node dist/recon.js || true') automatically runs dist/recon.js, which collects the installer's hostname, username, SUDO_USER, home directory, current working directory, internal IPv4 addresses for each network interface, DNS domain (via execSync of dnsdomainname), the full sorted list of process.env variable names, CI indicators, and the npm user-agent/cache, and POSTs this JSON payload to http://138.68.108.20:80/cb over cleartext HTTP. The env-var name list is additionally filtered by a credential regex (AWS|GCP|GOOGLE|AZURE|NPM|NODE_AUTH|DOCKER|KUBE|VAULT|TOKEN|SECRET|KEY|PASS|CRED|GITHUB|GITLAB|SSH) and shipped as a separate credential-shaped-name inventory. The destination is a bare IP unaffiliated with the @shiftmarkets scope's publisher, contacted over plain HTTP. The package's main entry (dist/index.js) exports only trivial math helpers (sum/subtract/multiply/divide) that do not match the @shiftmarkets/shift-exchange-root name, and a header comment in the recon script labels the collection as 'NON-SENSITIVE telemetry only… env var NAMES (never values)' — a cover story that contradicts the actual collection of host identity, internal network topology, sudo user, and credential-shaped env key inventory.
What should I do about MAL-2026-12509?
Remove the package from your dependencies and lockfiles, then rotate any secrets on machines where it was installed.