Malicious code in @ppa-web-components/ppa-banner (npm)

@ppa-web-components/ppa-banner is a dependency-confusion package: it is described as a "Compatibility shim", uses inflated version numbers, and its README calls it an "authorized dependency-confusion test". Each listed version (3.0.0, 1.0.1, 2.0.0, 1.1.0, 0.0.1, 2.0.1, 1.0.0) has a postinstall script that runs `node beacon.cjs` on npm install, and index.js calls the same code when the package is imported; it POSTs the hostname, install path and current working directory over plain HTTP to `http://185.158.107.175:8787/_ah/dc`, and index.js exports a Proxy that returns no-op functions so builds importing the real package keep running. The npm account wiseke published 14 such packages under the @greenlake, @sxm-web, @drone-js-ext and @ppa-web-components scopes between 2026-10-23 21:23 and 2026-10-25 14:28 UTC; index.js is byte-identical to that of ph-common (MAL-2026-1809), which sends to the same endpoint. --- _-= Per source details. Do not edit below this line.=-_ ## Source: amazon-inspector (bcf0b03540a27943a2afcc26927ce7256d85328bc4fcbc2562f36a88ad75ce8d) @ppa-web-components/[email protected] is described as a 'Compatibility shim' but ships only two code paths: a no-op Proxy as its main export, and beacon.cjs. beacon.cjs defines BEACON = "http://185.158.107.175:8787/_ah/dc" and a fire() function that POSTs a JSON payload containing the package name, os.hostname(), the install path (__dirname), process.cwd(), and the Node/npm version to that bare-IP, plain-HTTP endpoint. fire() is invoked both from the postinstall lifecycle hook (`node beacon.cjs`) and from the module's main entry, so the beacon fires automatically on `npm install` and again whenever the package is required. The destination is an unrelated bare IP over cleartext HTTP, not any publisher-controlled or registry infrastructure, and the shipped stub has no functional purpose other than the beacon. The scoped-name + stub + install-time recon beacon shape is consistent with a dependency-confusion recon callback used to identify internal build environments that resolved this public name.

Source published

25 Oct 2026 14:25:32 UTC

Source modified

26 Oct 2026 03:30:05 UTC

Observed here

26 Oct 2026 04:25:30 UTC

Source terms

OSV · upstream source license applies

Original source record · Cite this exact observation · Complete original publisher JSON

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