MAL-2026-17875 Malicious code in monkey-tags-ip (npm)

npm user 'conx3993' published this package in a dependency confusion campaign. It squats a name that looks like an internal package and uses version 53.4.1 so misconfigured resolvers pick it over the real one. Version 0.0.0-stage is an empty placeholder. A 'preinstall' hook runs 'ip.js', which poses as an IP geolocation helper. On install it sends an HTTPS GET to attacker-controlled host realwbx.com (/ip?f=json) with a hard-coded 'Authorization' value ('Bearer xHlT6gllTfGbKgdivAKTzWKxrILWlNlv') unique to this package, then discards the response. The token tells the operator which internal package name the victim installed, and the request reveals the victim's public egress IP.

[email protected] is a stub package whose entire behavior is an install-time beacon. The preinstall script executes node ip.js, which unconditionally makes an HTTPS GET to the hardcoded host realwbx.com/ip?f=json with a hardcoded Bearer token on every npm install, disclosing the installer's source IP and install event to a destination unrelated to the package publisher. The manifest also declares a runtime dependency on a registry package named https (^1.0.0), while the code uses Node's built-in https module; this shadows the built-in name with whatever bytes the registry serves for https, resolving and installing third-party code the package does not own. The package has no legitimate functionality — the beacon and the confusable dependency are its sole content.