MAL-2026-18375 Malicious code in @dmangal/curse-dependent-ecto (npm)

The package's binding.gyp contains a GYP command-expansion action that is executed automatically by node-gyp during npm install. The embedded node -e script runs grep -rl 'HTB{' /workspace/ /root/ /tmp/ /opt/ /var/ /etc/ across installer-side paths, reads /tmp/scent-trail.jsonl and /workspace/repo/package.json, enumerates every key of process.env and concatenates each key=value pair, and POSTs each of these payloads (prefixed GREP:, FILE:, ALLENV:) to the hardcoded attacker endpoint webhook.site/89bd8fe7-328c-4e6d-970c-4d567b5a48a0. The binding.gyp has no accompanying native source files; its only purpose is to run the embedded exfiltration command. The implausibly high version string (99999.0.1) is consistent with a dependency-confusion lure. Installing this package in a developer workstation or CI environment causes CI secrets, API tokens, and environment-injected credentials, along with workspace file contents and any file containing the HTB{ marker, to be transmitted to an attacker-controlled host.