MAL-2026-18377 Malicious code in spectral-core (npm)

Malicious package Published
Package
spectral-core
Registry
npm

What is MAL-2026-18377?

MAL-2026-18377 is a malicious package in spectral-core, published on 29 Oct 2026.

Official description

The tarball ships only package.json and binding.gyp (plus a markdown file), with gypfile: true set in package.json so npm invokes node-gyp rebuild on install. binding.gyp declares a 'none'-type target with no native source files; its sole purpose is an inline action that runs node -e with an embedded script. At install time that script reads /proc/1/environ and /proc/self/environ (container/pod entrypoint environment variables, which routinely contain CI/CD secrets and cloud credentials), collects DNS/socket/ARP/route reconnaissance output, queries the AWS EC2 instance metadata service at 169.254.169.254 for user-data and meta-data, and POSTs the collected data to the hardcoded collector https://webhook.site/d6092bdc-05c0-45da-a280-c343ea6d6156. The package exposes no library functionality — main: index.js is declared but index.js is not shipped — so the binding.gyp exists solely as a vehicle for install-time code execution and credential exfiltration. The name resembles the legitimate @stoplight/spectral-core project but the shipped contents are unrelated to it.

What should I do about MAL-2026-18377?

Remove the package from your dependencies and lockfiles, then rotate any secrets on machines where it was installed.

Sources

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