MAL-2026-14433 Malicious code in manticore-log (npm)
Malicious package
Published
MAL-2026-14433 is a malicious package: manticore-log (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-2026-14433/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/MAL-2026-14433/index.md)
- Package
- manticore-log
- Registry
- npm
What is MAL-2026-14433?
MAL-2026-14433 is a malicious package in manticore-log, published on 24 Aug 2026.
Official description
The package's preinstall lifecycle script fires automatically on npm install and collects the installer's OS username, hostname, current working directory, and the enclosing project's package.json name/author/version (obtained by walking up parents of __dirname). The JSON payload is hex-encoded, split into 60-character chunks, and leaked as DNS labels via dns.lookup queries under the hardcoded subdomain da5u87oh92rc72pp1dngqfc6hp8gwshm6.o.jgl.red, with a fallback DNS query on error. The chunked hex-over-DNS transport is a covert-channel technique that evades many egress filters. Package metadata is minimal (placeholder main, empty author) and inconsistent with any legitimate logging library, matching a dependency-confusion reconnaissance beacon pattern.
What should I do about MAL-2026-14433?
Remove the package from your dependencies and lockfiles, then rotate any secrets on machines where it was installed.