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Malicious code in @selfpentest/bin-confusion (npm)

Type: advisorySource: OSV1 source record

--- _-= Per source details. Do not edit below this line.=-_ ## Source: amazon-inspector (40a68543ca2674f2b90d89dd52516736791b7886d617c694d89dd3135e7499f3) package.json registers a `bin` entry named `npm` pointing at npm.js, deliberately colliding with the core npm CLI. Once this package is installed as a dependency, any `npm...` invocation in a consuming project's scripts resolves via node_modules/.bin to this shim, executing the shipped code before (or instead of) the real npm. npm.js contains a `steal()` routine that reads process.env.HOME, process.env.SECRET, and the first 30 bytes of ~/.ssh/known_hosts, concatenates them into a query string, and issues a fetch GET to http://localhost:1337/. The destination is loopback in this build, but the collected data (installer SSH known_hosts contents and environment secrets) is packaged into a functioning exfiltration primitive that fires whenever the shadow `npm` shim is invoked from the installer's build scripts. The scope name (`@selfpentest`) and README frame this as a demonstration, but the shipped tarball is a working bin-shadow + credential-read + network-send chain against installers who add it as a dependency.

Announced Source revision 1
Original source ↗

MAL-2026-17292

Primary source · Revision 1

Imported from structured advisory data. Source references identify upstream records or fields; verify affected versions and your deployed configuration.

Security context

Source reference: osv:MAL-2026-17292

@selfpentest/bin-confusion

Source reference: /affected/0/package/name

Affected versions
1.0.1

Source reference: /affected/0/versions

1.0.0

Source reference: /affected/0/versions

Fixed versions
Not stated in this record
Prerequisites
Not stated in this record

Structured affected-version data

Original package identities and version rules from this source.

[
  {
    "package": {
      "name": "@selfpentest/bin-confusion",
      "purl": "pkg:npm/%40selfpentest/bin-confusion",
      "ecosystem": "npm"
    },
    "versions": [
      "1.0.1",
      "1.0.0"
    ],
    "database_specific": {
      "cwes": [
        {
          "name": "Embedded Malicious Code",
          "cweId": "CWE-506",
          "description": "The product contains code that appears to be malicious in nature."
        },
        {
          "name": "Embedded Malicious Code",
          "cweId": "CWE-506",
          "description": "The product contains code that appears to be malicious in nature."
        }
      ],
      "source": "https://github.com/ossf/malicious-packages/blob/main/osv/malicious/npm/@selfpentest/bin-confusion/MAL-2026-17292.json",
      "indicators": {
        "evidence_files": [
          {
            "path": "package.json",
            "tlsh": "a0e0c2174e12246314e819651c39417bb52a8f6b285ebd652bffa20c92cd3bb643564c",
            "sha256": "57e36195d9df49781c8fd45bf2f25f79950a80c0564fc2d90399397529b0c699"
          },
          {
            "path": "npm.js",
            "tlsh": "4a41004620f11a3886b222a3779b24033afbd0a73215cca475dc8671df5af758261dfa",
            "sha256": "f82f3e8a084d7d4c833daf350c1ae17534841c6d540f138fe573a5dedfed572b"
          }
        ],
        "package_integrity": [
          {
            "hashes": {
              "sha1": "7253b6b5cecfbdc5fec4eca9e304ed25f68bb86a",
              "sha512_sri": "sha512-+jfVd+b1JHd8zttc8dXEdmFOoR2hmFLkQGXSmZwCDG7XdBr4d5W2adh6eOZJWZ8FTMr/A41pSA16ABSKLNxGZQ=="
            },
            "filename": "bin-confusion-1.0.1.tgz"
          }
        ]
      }
    }
  }
]

Publisher severity

No explicit severity was provided.

Event
#31935 · Revision 1
Added to Heist Feed
Publisher date
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