MAL-2026-18084 Malicious code in tailwind-kinetic (npm)

tailwind-kinetic (2.0.6, 2.0.8) is a Tailwind CSS plugin from the fake job interview campaign behind MAL-2026-17665 and MAL-2026-17666: the same Animate.css integration template, README and description, published by keinsell-jh on 2026-09-28. src/motion.js:5 requires the private scoped package @aaron205whitmore/postcss-animate-utils, which is not readable on the public registry and resolves only with the npm token committed in the lure repository's web/.npmrc, so the code it delivers runs when tailwind.config.js loads the plugin and the dev server starts. The published tarball contains no install scripts and no network code; the payload lives in the private dependency, which was not retrieved. Twenty-six such packages under seventeen accounts were published between 2026-07-28 and 2026-10-09.

The package tailwind-kinetic version 2.0.8 was inspected across 8 files. No install-time lifecycle scripts fetching or executing remote content were observed, no credential or filesystem-secret reads (such as ~/.npmrc, ~/.aws, ~/.ssh, or browser profile stores) were present, no hardcoded exfiltration endpoints or obfuscated network destinations were identified, and no backdoor, silent-relay, or self-propagation mechanisms were found. The package's shipped content does not exhibit any of the enumerated supply-chain attack fingerprints.

Any computer that has this package installed or running should be considered fully compromised. All secrets and keys stored on that computer should be rotated immediately from a different computer. The package should be removed, but as full control of the computer may have been given to an outside entity, there is no guarantee that removing the package will remove all malicious software resulting from installing it.