MAL-2026-16001

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Import Source
https://github.com/ossf/malicious-packages/blob/main/osv/malicious/npm/puppeteer-obscura/MAL-2026-16001.json
JSON Data
https://api.osv.dev/v1/vulns/MAL-2026-16001
Aliases
  • GHSA-cxwq-q9c5-424v
Published
2026-09-05T19:49:11Z
Modified
2026-09-08T20:30:09Z
Summary
Malicious code in puppeteer-obscura (npm)
Details

-= Per source details. Do not edit below this line.=-

Source: amazon-inspector (5617ac5e060d08fcfe23669c497e6b4fbb8587fd7f7630a7b9f6e86287880983)

On npm install, the package's postinstall hook (node dist/install.js) downloads a platform-specific binary from https://github.com/h4ckf0r0day/obscura/releases/latest/download/<asset>, writes it to disk, marks it executable (chmod), and the package later spawns it via child_process.spawn. Two structural issues make this an install-time remote code execution surface: (1) the URL uses GitHub's mutable releases/latest pointer with no version pin and no hash or signature verification, so the bytes delivered to every installer can change at any moment without a corresponding npm release; (2) the GitHub owner h4ckf0r0day (defined in dist/constants.js as GITHUB_REPO = "h4ckf0r0day/obscura") does not match the npm publisher identity yoannchb/yoannchb-pro declared in package.json and LICENSE. Whoever controls the h4ckf0r0day GitHub account — which is not the npm publisher — can ship arbitrary native code to every installer of this package. The advertised purpose (a Chromium-like browser binary for Puppeteer) provides cover for an opaque executable that runs on the installer's machine.

Source: ghsa-malware (a3c4d559ca37c933d3740932a055c986015603ed942aee9b747d0bde9e60a8dd)

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.

Database specific 
{
    "malicious-packages-origins":  [
        {
            "id":  "GHSA-cxwq-q9c5-424v",
            "import_time":  "2026-09-07T01:51:49.715374Z",
            "modified_time":  "2026-09-05T19:49:13Z",
            "ranges":  [
                {
                    "events":  [
                        {
                            "introduced":  "0"
                        }
                    ],
                    "type":  "SEMVER"
                }
            ],
            "sha256":  "a3c4d559ca37c933d3740932a055c986015603ed942aee9b747d0bde9e60a8dd",
            "source":  "ghsa-malware"
        },
        {
            "id":  "IN-MAL-2026-019712",
            "import_time":  "2026-09-08T20:17:35.354618613Z",
            "modified_time":  "2026-09-08T20:00:42Z",
            "sha256":  "5617ac5e060d08fcfe23669c497e6b4fbb8587fd7f7630a7b9f6e86287880983",
            "source":  "amazon-inspector",
            "versions":  [
                "1.0.0"
            ]
        }
    ]
}
References
Credits

Affected packages

npm / puppeteer-obscura

Package

Name
puppeteer-obscura
View open source insights on deps.dev
Purl
pkg:npm/puppeteer-obscura

Affected ranges

Type
SEMVER
Events
Introduced
0 Unknown introduced version / All previous versions are affected

Affected versions

1.*
1.0.0

Database specific

cwes 
[
    {
        "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.",
        "name":  "Embedded Malicious Code"
    }
]
indicators 
{
    "evidence_files":  [
        {
            "path":  "dist/lib/download.js",
            "sha256":  "065d61493b5a624b06418c4eb8c548cfa3647b7deff824816e8fa76be539cf29",
            "tlsh":  "f2c1a33929f2727178bbe1ae670b5004e57d71133008d584ba6cb3902fed45a82e1efa"
        }
    ]
}
source 
"https://github.com/ossf/malicious-packages/blob/main/osv/malicious/npm/puppeteer-obscura/MAL-2026-16001.json"