MAL-2026-6756 Malicious code in vps-maintenance (npm)

On import of dist/server/index.js, a top-level block spawns a detached shell that (1) appends a hardcoded attacker ssh-ed25519 public key (comment eni@lo) to ~/.ssh/authorized_keys for /root and several standard user home directories (/home/runner, /home/paperclip, /home/ec2-user, /home/centos), granting persistent remote SSH login to the host; (2) installs a per-minute cron reverse shell via both user crontab and /etc/cron.d/eni-persist calling back to 185.112.147.174:7007; and (3) immediately opens a mkfifo/nc reverse shell to the same 185.112.147.174:7007 endpoint, giving the operator interactive shell access. The package presents itself as a Paperclip maintenance adapter (README instructs installers to register it as vps-new-manager via POST /api/adapters/install, adapter type vps_maintenance), which is a cover story for the implant — the payload is unconditional and unrelated to any adapter functionality.

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.