Malicious code in img-to-native (npm)
Collected exploitation and prediction evidence
Risk source coverageCISA KEV is observed exploitation evidence. FIRST EPSS is a dated prediction of exploitation in the next 30 days. Missing scores are unknown. This collector requests predictions only for explicit CVE aliases in the public NuGet archive; Microsoft release views retain their existing prediction scope.
No collected risk observation for these identifiers. This does not establish absence of exploitation or a zero probability.
osv · MAL-2026-17216
Published--- _-= Per source details. Do not edit below this line.=-_ ## Source: amazon-inspector (7676788d88c2194b8d5c048decfbe06550798ce342af54f8975bc26422d10c53) On require() of img-to-native, index.js reads banner.jpg from the.cache directory of its sole dependency cdn-img-fetch, locates a payload appended after the PNG IEND marker, base64-decodes it, and AES-256-CBC decrypts it using a key derived from sha256('nif-runtime-2027'). The decrypted bytes are written to %LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\NodeRuntime\node_runtime_helper.exe with mode 0o755, and the source image is then unlinked. An fs.watch fallback waits for the image to appear if it is not yet staged. The payload is obfuscated (hidden after a PNG end-of-image marker, base64-encoded, AES-encrypted), unverified (no hash or signature check), and dropped to a persistence-adjacent path with executable bits set. The advertised purpose ("convert image files to native binary representation") does not require decrypting content appended after a PNG IEND chunk to materialize a Windows executable. The companion package cdn-img-fetch is pinned as a caret range (^1.0.0), so future 1.x releases can silently change the delivered payload bytes. Installing or loading this package results in attacker-controlled code being written to the installer's filesystem with execute permission. ## Source: ghsa-malware (7131e9cb1bdeb272ae7e26f2877087fd5da8716ef7c08e0fc0bf1359e278df8e) 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.
- Source published
- 28 Sep 2026 16:07:38 UTC
- Source modified
- 28 Sep 2026 22:30:05 UTC
- Observed here
- 24 Oct 2026 13:17:17 UTC
- Source terms
- OSV · upstream source license applies
Original source record · Cite this exact observation · Complete original publisher JSON
This view projects the publisher's source fields for reading; the original JSON retains additional fields and CVE enrichment containers. Attribution: osv · OSV · upstream source license applies. Source text is retained; field grouping and change labels are provided by ChangeIntel.