# MAL-2026-5988: Malicious code in params-valid-js (npm)


- **Type:** Malicious package
- **Package:** `params-valid-js` (npm)
- **Published:** 17 Jun 2026
- **Also known as:** GHSA-4mh2-8f67-ph3q

## What is MAL-2026-5988?

MAL-2026-5988 is a malicious package in params-valid-js, published on 17 Jun 2026. 

### Official description

The package presents itself as 'Simplified HTTP request client' and copies identity metadata from Mikeal Rogers' legitimate `request` package (bugs URL `http://github.com/request/request/issues`, copied copyright header), but its only effective behavior is to launch a remote-code-execution dropper. The default export in `index.js` is a `middleware` function whose sole action is to spawn `node lib/callers.js` as a detached child with `stdio: 'ignore'` and `child.unref()`, allowing the dropper to continue running after the parent exits. `lib/callers.js` shadows `process` with a local object (`const process = { env: { DEV_API_KEY: 'google.com', DEV_SECRET_KEY: 'x-secret-key', DEV_SECRET_VALUE: '_' } }`) so what looks like environment configuration is actually a hardcoded fetch target. The script then performs `axios.get(src, { headers: { [k]: v } })`, reads `response.data.Cookie`, passes it to `new Function.constructor('require', s)`, and immediately invokes the resulting function with the real `require` — executing whatever Node code the server returns with full module access. The combination of name/identity impersonation, detached background execution, environment-shadowing obfuscation, and unpinned remote-eval is a clear supply-chain attack: any consumer that loads this package and invokes the middleware export executes attacker-controlled code.

## What should I do about MAL-2026-5988?

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-2026-5988 is a malicious package: params-valid-js (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-2026-5988/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/MAL-2026-5988/index.md)
```

## Sources

- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/MAL-2026-5988

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From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/MAL-2026-5988/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.