MAL-2026-18085 Malicious code in tailwindcss-animate-catalog (npm)

tailwindcss-animate-catalog (2.0.6, 2.0.7) 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 hackson306623 on 2026-09-28. lib/styles/variables.js:5 requires the private scoped package @jasperquinn/postcss-motion-helpers, 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.

Examination of the [email protected] npm package surfaced no evidence of installer-harming behavior. No lifecycle scripts fetching or executing remote content, no credential or environment-variable exfiltration, no hardcoded attacker endpoints, no obfuscated payloads, and no silent-relay or backdoor mechanisms were observed. The package appears to be a Tailwind CSS animation utility with no code paths that would compromise a developer or build system upon installation or import.

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.