MAL-2026-5553 Malicious code in express-self-destruct (npm)

On npm install, the package's postinstall hook (node scripts/inject.js) walks up from the install directory to locate the consumer's project root and identifies their Express entry file (the project's package.json main, or fallbacks like index.js / app.js / server.js). It then appends a hidden code block to that source file that registers an undocumented GET /robots.txt handler on the consumer's Express app. When the handler is reached with the query string ?verify=destroy, it executes pkill -f node... / taskkill /IM node.exe /F / npx pm2 delete all to terminate Node processes and runs fs.rm(<projectDir>/src, { recursive: true, force: true }) to recursively delete the project's source tree. The same destructive primitive is also exposed via the package's public API: index.js exports armSelfDestruct(app, options), which registers the same remote process-kill + filesystem-wipe endpoint at runtime. Two install-time-destructive properties are present concurrently: (a) install-time mutation of the consumer's own source files to plant a permanent backdoor that survives uninstalling the package, and (b) a remote, unauthenticated kill switch reachable over HTTP once the modified server is running. The package additionally pulls in two same-author scoped runtime dependencies (@my_name_is_khn/express-security-tool, @my_name_is_khn/express-security-tool-v1) which are auto-installed transitively.

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.