MAL-2026-13438 Malicious code in cewe-npm-cops (npm)
Malicious package
Published
MAL-2026-13438 is a malicious package: cewe-npm-cops (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-2026-13438/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/MAL-2026-13438/index.md)
- Package
- cewe-npm-cops
- Registry
- npm
What is MAL-2026-13438?
MAL-2026-13438 is a malicious package in cewe-npm-cops, published on 6 Aug 2026.
Official description
[email protected] is a dependency-confusion probe. package.json declares scripts.preinstall = 'node preinstall.js'; preinstall.js reads os.hostname() and issues a dns.lookup against
<hostname>.zfir3qor582xqvyqm0tdc7xpqgw7ky8n.oastify.com, an author-controlled Burp Collaborator (Interactsh) out-of-band host. Every npm install of this package unconditionally leaks the installer's machine hostname via DNS to a third-party OOB service. The package is otherwise hollow: version is set to 99.9.9 (max-version squat designed to override an internal package of the same name during resolution), main is an empty index.js, and author is the placeholder 'Your_HackerOne_Username'. The self-described 'harmless PoC' framing does not change the behavior: installer host identity is exfiltrated to an attacker-controlled endpoint at install time.What should I do about MAL-2026-13438?
Remove the package from your dependencies and lockfiles, then rotate any secrets on machines where it was installed.
Sources
Also known as GHSA-823q-q648-p3m6.