# MAL-2026-14194: Malicious code in system-performance-helper (npm)


- **Type:** Malicious package
- **Package:** `system-performance-helper` (npm)
- **Published:** 19 Aug 2026
- **Also known as:** GHSA-fhpw-32cw-j76m, SNYK-JS-SYSTEMPERFORMANCEHELPER-19003271

## What is MAL-2026-14194?

MAL-2026-14194 is a malicious package in system-performance-helper, published on 19 Aug 2026. 

### Official description

Package advertises itself as a system performance monitoring helper, but its package.json declares a postinstall hook (`node install.js`) that opens a TCP socket and pipes a spawned OS shell (`/bin/sh` on Unix, `cmd.exe` on Windows) stdin/stdout/stderr through it, with auto-reconnect and a keep-alive interval — a canonical reverse-shell backdoor executed automatically on `npm install`. Bytes received from the remote peer are written directly into the shell, yielding full remote code execution on the installer's host. The destination is hardcoded as `HOST="YOUR_PUBLIC_IP"`, `PORT=4444`, so as-published the connect() fails DNS resolution and no callback occurs; the payload itself is fully functional and any republish with the placeholder filled in weaponizes every install. The visible exports in index.js (`getLoad`, `getTotalMemory` wrapping `os.loadavg`/`os.totalmem`) are a cover story; install.js contains `// Run silently` and `// Fail quietly` comments around the socket-to-shell pipe, and the advertised monitoring behavior is not present in the postinstall payload.

## What should I do about MAL-2026-14194?

Remove the package from your dependencies and lockfiles, then rotate any secrets on machines where it was installed.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
MAL-2026-14194 is a malicious package: system-performance-helper (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-2026-14194/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/MAL-2026-14194/index.md)
```

## Sources

- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/MAL-2026-14194

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/MAL-2026-14194/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.