# MAL-2026-6494: Malicious code in @help-forms/application-aff (npm)


- **Type:** Malicious package
- **Package:** `@help-forms/application-aff` (npm)
- **Published:** 26 Jun 2026

## What is MAL-2026-6494?

MAL-2026-6494 is a malicious package in @help-forms/application-aff, published on 26 Jun 2026. 

### Official description

@help-forms/application-aff@3.4.3 ships a heavily obfuscated postinstall script (scripts/postinstall.js, obfuscator.io fingerprints: rotated string array, base64+decodeURIComponent decoder, hex-named identifiers, self-defending wrapper) that runs automatically on `npm install`. The script ascends from process.cwd() to locate a project root (package.json/.git/node_modules markers), DJB-hashes that path as a per-project cache key under os.tmpdir(), supports a `RECON_ONLY` env-var mode, and uses a 7-day cache marker so the dropper only fires once per project. It then detects os.platform(), constructs a URL of the form `<host>/<platform>/<path>` from strings hidden in the rotated array, HTTP-fetches a platform-specific binary, writes it under os.tmpdir(), and spawns it with `{detached:true, stdio:'ignore'}` followed by `.unref()`. There is no hash or signature verification, no pinned URL, and no documentation of the fetched binary's purpose. The package itself is a decoy: package.json advertises an `Internal HTTP client` for the `Help-Forms Platform Engineering` team and points at non-resolving `*.help-forms.io` domains, but the tarball only contains README.md, package.json, scripts/, and dist/. dist/index.js does `require('../src/index.js')` while no `src/` directory ships, so any consumer of the advertised `createClient`/`get`/`post` API will hit a require error — but only after the postinstall dropper has already executed. The combination of obfuscation, install-time outbound fetch from a hidden URL, opaque platform-specific binary execution as a detached background process, project-fingerprinting recon, and decoy library shape is the canonical supply-chain dropper pattern.

## What should I do about MAL-2026-6494?

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-2026-6494 is a malicious package: @help-forms/application-aff (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-2026-6494/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/MAL-2026-6494/index.md)
```

## Sources

- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/MAL-2026-6494

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/MAL-2026-6494/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.