MAL-2026-5710 Malicious code in chalk-plus-ts (npm)

package.json declares postinstall=node lib/utils/index.js, which spawns a detached child process running lib/utils/smtp-connection/index.js. That script fetches https://www.jsonkeeper.com/b/QHDXR (a mutable, anonymous JSON paste host) and passes the response's cookie field directly into new Function('require', data.cookie)(require), executing attacker-controlled JavaScript with full Node privileges on every installer machine. The detached child with ignored stdio is designed to suppress visibility of the activity. The package additionally ships lib/utils/smtp-connection/parse.js, which exposes an AES-256-CBC decryption helper with a hardcoded key and IV — consistent with a staged loader for decoding subsequent payloads delivered through the same channel. Identity is laundered: the package name chalk-plus-ts impersonates the popular chalk package, the main entry is a verbatim copy of nodemailer.js, the author field is set to nodemailer's real maintainer (Andris Reinman), and the description field is unrelated React Training boilerplate — all to lure installs from multiple ecosystems.

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.