MAL-2026-7016 Malicious code in @vraksha/gh-helper (npm)
Malicious package
Published
MAL-2026-7016 is a malicious package: @vraksha/gh-helper (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-2026-7016/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/MAL-2026-7016/index.md)
- Package
- @vraksha/gh-helper
- Registry
- npm
What is MAL-2026-7016?
MAL-2026-7016 is a malicious package in @vraksha/gh-helper, published on 8 Jul 2026.
Official description
On
npm install, the package's postinstall hook runs index.js, which performs an HTTPS GET to https://http-logger-production.up.railway.app/payload, base64-decodes the response body (Buffer.from(data.trim(), 'base64').toString('utf-8')), and passes the decoded string to child_process.execSync with { shell: '/bin/bash' }. This is a fetch-decode-exec dropper: the executed content is attacker-controlled, mutable, and opaque, and it runs automatically at install time with the installer's privileges. No legitimate purpose (no shipped native source requiring a build, no vendor-matched SDK, no pinned artifact) justifies this pattern.What should I do about MAL-2026-7016?
Remove the package from your dependencies and lockfiles, then rotate any secrets on machines where it was installed.