# MAL-2026-16405: Malicious code in tailwind-form-styles (npm)


- **Type:** Malicious package
- **Package:** `tailwind-form-styles` (npm)
- **Published:** 22 Sep 2026
- **Also known as:** GHSA-h48r-xx59-h44r

## What is MAL-2026-16405?

MAL-2026-16405 is a malicious package in tailwind-form-styles, published on 22 Sep 2026. 

### Official description

The package presents itself as a Tailwind CSS forms plugin but its main entry src/index.js is heavily obfuscated (obfuscator.io-style rotated string array of 303 entries, hex-named identifiers, control-flow flattening) and has no relationship to the legitimate tailwindlabs/tailwindcss-forms project it mimics. On require()/import — which occurs whenever a consumer loads the plugin from tailwind.config — the module imports node:http, node:https, node:zlib and spawn from node:child_process, and installs global['r']=require and global['m']=module to stage further execution. It then issues HTTP requests to endpoints reconstructed from string-array fragments: an Etherscan-style transaction-list indexer and multiple Ethereum RPC hosts (drpc.org, publicnode, blockscout). A hardcoded Ethereum address 0xa322E5f39aDC2490EfD311D3080e6f0121063e1a is reassembled from fragments and used as the SENDER filter in eth_blockNumber, eth_getBlockByNumber, eth_getTransactionCount calls and in the txlist URL, and custom X-Payload-* headers gate later stages. The combination of Tailwind-plugin cover, obfuscated destination reconstruction, import-time network I/O to attacker-controlled infrastructure, child_process availability, and Ethereum on-chain command-and-control is the shape of a wallet-drainer / RCE stager, not a CSS plugin.

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.

## What should I do about MAL-2026-16405?

Remove the package from your dependencies and lockfiles, then rotate any secrets on machines where it was installed.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
MAL-2026-16405 is a malicious package: tailwind-form-styles (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-2026-16405/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/MAL-2026-16405/index.md)
```

## Sources

- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/MAL-2026-16405

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From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/MAL-2026-16405/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.