MAL-2026-16255 Malicious code in randompkga (npm)

package.json declares a postinstall lifecycle script cd "$INIT_CWD" && npm i randompkgb that, on npm install, installs the additional npm package randompkgb into the consumer's project. A companion postinstall.js reads the installer's own package.json at $INIT_CWD, sets dependencies.randompkgb = "^1.0.0", and writes the manifest back to disk, persisting the injected dependency across future installs and CI runs. The caret range is unpinned, so any current or future version of randompkgb — whose code is not present in this package and is not controlled by the installer — will be resolved and executed on the installer's machine at install time and on require. This is dependency-tree hijacking: the mechanism drops attacker-controlled third-party code into the installer's environment and rewrites source-controlled project state to make the injection durable.

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.