{"answers":{"affected":"1 open source package ship an affected version, including troubleshooting.","exploited":"There is no known exploitation of MAL-2026-17641 in the wild and no public exploit code.","fix":"Remove the package from your dependencies and lockfiles, then rotate any secrets on machines where it was installed.","what":"MAL-2026-17641 is a malicious package in troubleshooting, published on 7 Oct 2026."},"fix_prompt":"MAL-2026-17641 is a malicious package: troubleshooting (npm). Every version was published to cause harm.\n\nTask:\n1. Search this repository's dependency manifests and lockfiles for the package, including transitive dependencies.\n2. If it is present, remove it, regenerate the lockfile with the project's package manager, and replace whatever it was used for.\n3. List any CI runners, developer machines or containers that installed it, so their secrets can be rotated.\n4. If the package is not used anywhere, say so and change nothing.\n\nReference: https://insights.sbomify.com/MAL-2026-17641/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/MAL-2026-17641/index.md)","id":"MAL-2026-17641","markdown":"https://insights.sbomify.com/MAL-2026-17641/index.md","name":"MAL-2026-17641","record":{"aliases":[],"analysis":null,"analysis_generated_by":null,"assigner":null,"cpe":[],"cvss":{"score":null,"severity":null,"source":null,"vector":null,"version":null},"cwes":[],"description":"troubleshooting is a dependency-confusion package: it is described as a \"Compatibility shim\", uses version numbers up to 99.0.1, and its README calls it an \"authorized dependency-confusion test\". Each listed version has a postinstall script that runs `node beacon.cjs` on npm install, and index.js calls the same code when the package is imported; it POSTs the hostname, install path and current working directory over plain HTTP to `http://185.158.107.175:8787/_ah/dc`, and index.js exports a Proxy that returns no-op functions so builds importing the real package keep running. The npm account xwise8887 published these 7 versions, and 6 versions of browser-metrics-plugin.contrib with the same payload, on 2026-10-07 between 00:01 and 00:07 UTC.\n\ntroubleshooting@2.0.1 is a stub package whose only functional behavior is a reconnaissance beacon. package.json declares `scripts.postinstall: node beacon.cjs`, which runs on `npm install`, and index.js runs the same beacon on `require('troubleshooting')` before exporting a Proxy whose properties all return no-ops so consuming bundlers do not crash. beacon.cjs collects the package name, `os.hostname()`, `__dirname` (install path), `process.cwd()`, and `process.version`, and POSTs them as JSON to the hardcoded bare-IP endpoint http://185.158.107.175:8787/_ah/dc over plain HTTP. The README self-labels the package as an authorized dependency-confusion test, but the behavior is identical to a dependency-confusion exfiltration payload: any environment whose internal/private package name collides with `troubleshooting` on the public npm registry will have its build host, install path, working directory, and Node version reported to an outside party at a bare IP, providing actionable fingerprinting of internal build systems and CI runners.","ecosystems":["npm"],"exploits":{"exploitdb":null,"first_seen":null,"github_poc":null,"max_poc_stars":null,"metasploit":null,"nuclei":null,"refs":[],"tier":null},"has_fix":false,"headline":"Malicious code in troubleshooting (npm)","id":"MAL-2026-17641","indexable":true,"kev":null,"kind":"malicious","links":{"ecosystem":"npm","product":null,"products":[],"type":null,"year":"2026"},"n_packages":1,"n_references":null,"packages":[{"ecosystem":"npm","fixed":[],"introduced":[],"last_affected":[],"package":"troubleshooting","purl":"pkg:npm/troubleshooting","source":"MAL-2026-17641"}],"products":null,"published":"2026-10-07","related":[],"sources":[{"class":"attribution","licence":"Apache-2.0","name":"OpenSSF Malicious Packages","prefix":"MAL"}],"ssvc":{"automatable":null,"exploitation":null,"technical_impact":null},"state":null,"updated":null,"vendors":null},"summary":null,"url":"https://insights.sbomify.com/MAL-2026-17641/"}