MAL-2026-5984 Malicious code in nepublisher (npm)
Malicious package
Published
MAL-2026-5984 is a malicious package: nepublisher (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-2026-5984/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/MAL-2026-5984/index.md)
- Package
- nepublisher
- Registry
- npm
What is MAL-2026-5984?
MAL-2026-5984 is a malicious package in nepublisher, published on 17 Jun 2026.
Official description
On
npm install, lib/_init.js spawns a detached Node child process that collects host identifiers (hostname, username, cwd, IPv4 addresses, Node version, npm registry) and the names of environment variables matching /NPM|NODE|CI|JENKINS|GIT|BUILD|RUNNER|DOCKER|KUBE|REGISTRY/, then HTTPS-POSTs the data to a hardcoded DingTalk robot webhook (oapi.dingtalk.com/robot/send) with a Chinese title meaning 'someone came online'. The script also contains explicit sandbox-evasion logic at lib/_init.js:9-12 that no-ops when the username or hostname contains 'sandbox', 'malware', 'analyst', 'cuckoo', 'analysis', or 'sample' — a clear intent signal designed to hide the beacon from automated analyzers. The collected fields plus the CI/registry-focused env-name filter are the canonical dependency-confusion reconnaissance pattern: identify which organizations have pulled the package by mistake and harvest target intel for follow-on internal-package attacks.What should I do about MAL-2026-5984?
Remove the package from your dependencies and lockfiles, then rotate any secrets on machines where it was installed.