MAL-2026-18196 Malicious code in imgdecode (npm)

[email protected] presents itself as a native image buffer decoder but ships a 224-byte index.js whose only runtime effect on require is to load the sibling package 'imgbundle' and attempt to require./prebuilds/win32-x64/imgdecode.node, swallowing errors. The exported API is a single load() that returns null, which does not correspond to the README's advertised exec(cmd, args) interface. The bundled prebuilds/win32-x64/imgdecode.node is a 703 KB Windows PE containing a non-standard.fptable3 section and obfuscated Windows API name fragments (e.g. 'EXClos', 'E\eHan', 'EPSlee' consistent with Close/Handle/Sleep under API-name hashing or XOR-stub packing) and no normal Node-API registration symbols — characteristics of packed/obfuscated native code, not a legitimate image-decoder addon. A.node file loaded via require executes native code in the host Node process immediately on module load, so any consumer that imports imgdecode on a win32-x64 host runs the packed binary, while all other platforms silently pull in and execute whatever code the imgbundle dependency contains. The combination of a facade JS stub, a README/API mismatch, a generic throwaway author identity, and a packed Windows PE delivered via require is a dependency-forwarder plus native-dropper shape rather than a working library.

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.