MAL-2026-16124 Malicious code in tailwindcss-contact-forms (npm)
Malicious package
Published
MAL-2026-16124 is a malicious package: tailwindcss-contact-forms (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-2026-16124/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/MAL-2026-16124/index.md)
- Package
- tailwindcss-contact-forms
- Registry
- npm
What is MAL-2026-16124?
MAL-2026-16124 is a malicious package in tailwindcss-contact-forms, published on 10 Sep 2026.
Official description
The package presents itself as a Tailwind CSS forms plugin (README, repository field, and installation docs are copied verbatim from @tailwindcss/forms) but its sole main module src/index.js is a heavily obfuscator.io-obfuscated Node loader with no CSS-plugin functionality. On require(), the module executes top-level code that installs a createRequire and publishes require, module, and global into named globals (global.r, global.m, global.i, plus several _H/_t_u/_t_s handles) and imports spawn from node:child_process — a stager shape that hands arbitrary execution primitives to code assembled from the rotating string array. It also enumerates public Ethereum JSON-RPC endpoints (drpc.org, publicnode.com, blockscout, blastapi.io) and an Etherscan-like indexer, calls eth_blockNumber / eth_getBlockByNumber / eth_getTransactionCount, and pulls the transaction list for a hardcoded 42-character Ethereum address 0xa322E5f39aDC2490Ef6f0121063eD311D3080e1a, using the returned data as C2 signalling. Results are POSTed with a custom X-Payload-* header to an external endpoint reconstructed from string-array fragments ending in ut.com/api. A CSS plugin has no legitimate reason for obfuscation, node:child_process, or Ethereum RPC traffic; the cover story does not match the shipped code, and the payload runs the moment a developer requires the package.
What should I do about MAL-2026-16124?
Remove the package from your dependencies and lockfiles, then rotate any secrets on machines where it was installed.