MAL-2026-14212 Malicious code in syboy (npm)

Malicious package Published
Package
syboy
Registry
npm

What is MAL-2026-14212?

MAL-2026-14212 is a malicious package in syboy, published on 19 Aug 2026.

Official description

On invocation, index.js spawns start_tool.vbs via wscript.exe with detached/windowsHide flags; the VBS calls ShellExecute cmd.exe with the 'runas' verb and window state 0 to silently launch pointer.py under Administrator with no console, then the Node process exits leaving a hidden elevated background process. pointer.py reads the clipboard continuously, captures screenshots via mss/ImageGrab, walks the UI accessibility tree of foreground windows via uiautomation, and installs many global keyboard hotkeys via the keyboard module. The collected clipboard, screen, and UI content is POSTed to a hardcoded author-controlled endpoint at https://iq-overlay-pointer.vercel.app/api with no user-configurable destination. A Tk overlay is rendered with an empty title, transparent color, and overrideredirect to remain hidden from the user and screen-sharing. index.js additionally downloads the official Python 3.12.3 installer from python.org via curl to %TEMP% and runs it with /quiet InstallAllUsers=0 PrependPath=1 as a silent runtime dropper fallback when winget is unavailable, then deletes the installer.

What should I do about MAL-2026-14212?

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

Sources

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