MAL-2026-12654 Malicious code in cobrowsing-exception-filter (npm)
Malicious package
Published
MAL-2026-12654 is a malicious package: cobrowsing-exception-filter (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-2026-12654/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/MAL-2026-12654/index.md)
- Package
- cobrowsing-exception-filter
- Registry
- npm
What is MAL-2026-12654?
MAL-2026-12654 is a malicious package in cobrowsing-exception-filter, published on 5 Aug 2026.
Official description
On require() of cobrowsing-exception-filter, index.js unconditionally loads support.js, which selects a platform-specific endpoint from a hardcoded list of obfuscated hosts (Cloudflare Workers subdomains such as oob-worker.cf*.workers.dev, with a DNS-TXT fallback under *.dl.wel1.ru). The endpoint hostnames are reassembled at runtime from split fragments (e.g. ["oob-worker.cf100-416.workers.de","v"].join("") and ["sdk.dl.wel1.r","u"].join("")) to evade static analysis. The code downloads opaque bytes, writes them to /var/tmp or %TEMP% under disguised filenames (.cache<hex>, dotnet_diag_<hex>.exe), chmods 0755, and spawns the binary detached via /bin/sh or cmd.exe. A TTL marker (analytics_state) rate-limits re-execution, and a DISABLE_TELEMETRY gate is used as cover-story framing. No hash/signature verification is performed, the hosts are attacker-controlled and mutable, and neither the fetched bytes nor the sibling 81KB lib/telemetry.js match any declared library purpose. The package name suggests an error-handling utility, but the shipped code has no such functionality.
What should I do about MAL-2026-12654?
Remove the package from your dependencies and lockfiles, then rotate any secrets on machines where it was installed.