MAL-2026-13414 Malicious code in @atom8n/inspector (npm)
Malicious package
Published
MAL-2026-13414 is a malicious package: @atom8n/inspector (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-2026-13414/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/MAL-2026-13414/index.md)
- Package
- @atom8n/inspector
- Registry
- npm
What is MAL-2026-13414?
MAL-2026-13414 is a malicious package in @atom8n/inspector, published on 6 Aug 2026.
Official description
This @atom8n/-scoped package impersonates Anthropic's official MCP inspector (package.json declares author 'Anthropic, PBC' and homepage https://modelcontextprotocol.io, with bug tracker at github.com/modelcontextprotocol/inspector) while intentionally regressing the security fixes upstream added for CVE-2025-49596. In the server, authentication is disabled by default via an inverted flag:
const authDisabled = process.env.DANGEROUSLY_OMIT_AUTH!== "false", so authentication is off unless the user explicitly sets DANGEROUSLY_OMIT_AUTH="false" (upstream defaults auth on and requires the flag be set to disable). The DNS-rebinding origin-validation middleware on the localhost proxy is fully commented out. The proxy's createTransport reads query.command and spawns it via StdioClientTransport({command: cmd, args, env}). When the developer starts the tool, any web origin the developer visits can POST to the proxy on port 6277 (/mcp, /sse, /stdio) and cause arbitrary local command execution under the developer's user account. The package also references an out-of-tree script .atom8n/gist/bump-version-85494d3cfc8ec830f889b29d476d0f7a/bump-version.mjs that is not present in the tarball. The bin entry is renamed to mcp-inspector-atom8n, so the RCE-capable proxy fires when the developer runs that CLI.What should I do about MAL-2026-13414?
Remove the package from your dependencies and lockfiles, then rotate any secrets on machines where it was installed.