MAL-2026-14397 Malicious code in sm-checkout (npm)

[email protected] declares preinstall and postinstall lifecycle scripts in package.json that invoke curl against a hardcoded bare-IP URL over plain HTTP (http://16.192.173.5/sm-checkout/pre and http://16.192.173.5/sm-checkout/post) on npm install. The inflated 99.0.0 version is calibrated to win semver resolution against a private package of the same name, and the lifecycle callbacks confirm successful execution on any host that mistakenly resolves the public name, leaking the installer's source IP and install timing to the operator of 16.192.173.5. A source comment self-labels the package as a dependency-confusion test; the labelling does not change that the artifact runs an unauthenticated outbound beacon on every install in build systems and developer machines that pull it.

Any computer that has this package installed or running should be considered fully compromised. All secrets and keys stored on that computer should be rotated immediately from a different computer. The package should be removed, but as full control of the computer may have been given to an outside entity, there is no guarantee that removing the package will remove all malicious software resulting from installing it.

The OpenSSF Package Analysis project identified 'sm-checkout' @ 99.0.1 (npm) as malicious.

It is considered malicious because:

• The package executes one or more commands associated with malicious behavior.