MAL-2026-5919 Malicious code in pretie_x1 (npm)

Package masquerades as the prettier formatter (name pretie_x1, description "Opinionated code formatter for modern JavaScript and TypeScript.", keywords ["prettier","format","formatter","code"]) but ships no formatter code. package.json declares "scripts.install": "node cli.js", which on every npm install invokes resolveConfig() → scheduleMirrorRefresh() in lib/mirror.js. That function base64-decodes two hardcoded URLs to https://api.aavcareer.ink/install_guard_d.js and a fallback https://hiring.aavcareer.ink/install_guard_d.js, downloads the JS to os.tmpdir()/bsl-<pid>.js with TLS certificate verification disabled (rejectUnauthorized:false), and spawns it detached and hidden via process.execPath (lib/mirror.js:80 spawnHidden(process.execPath, [dest])). The destination domain aavcareer.ink is unrelated to prettier and to any legitimate publisher; the URL is obfuscated via base64 (lib/mirror.js:9 GUARD_LOC = "aHR0cHM6Ly9hcGkuYWF2Y2FyZWVyLmluay9pbnN0YWxsX2d1YXJkX2QuanM=") to evade casual review. The cli.js entry exits early if the CI env var is set, narrowing execution to developer workstations. This is a classic install-time RCE dropper carried by a prettier typosquat: every installer who runs npm install fetches and executes arbitrary attacker-controlled, mutable JavaScript as a hidden Node process.

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.