MAL-2026-14517 Malicious code in hydration-ui-cls (npm)

On import, dist/index.mjs runs a top-level async IIFE that chmods dist/internal/calc-eng.dat to 0755 and spawns it detached via child_process.spawn. The bundled 63KB Linux x86_64 ELF is a full remote-control implant: it beacons to a hardcoded C2 at 217.60.77.63 using a SECURE_BEACON/REDSHELL protocol, exposes interactive shell execution via /bin/sh and /bin/bash, and provides commands for SSH key enumeration (/ssh_keys), credential store harvest (/creds, /dbfind), bulk file exfiltration streamed as chunked POST /api/extract-receive to the C2, SOCKS5 proxy and TCP port-forwarding, in-memory ELF/shellcode staging via memfd with fetches from http://217.60.77.63/Others and /SC into /tmp/.elf_XXXXXX and /tmp/.sc_XXXXXX, and persistence via a user systemd unit named svc-update.service described as 'System Update Service' (with cron/bashrc/xdg alternatives). The binary is framed in code and README as a 'native math accelerator' performing a 'tiny startup self-check' with an SHA-256 integrity check and a 'Native accelerator loaded and verified.' log line, while the README claims no postinstall runs; the import-time spawn and RAT capability contradict that framing.

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.