MAL-2026-17505

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Import Source
https://github.com/ossf/malicious-packages/blob/main/osv/malicious/npm/dotenv-promises/MAL-2026-17505.json
JSON Data
https://api.osv.dev/v1/vulns/MAL-2026-17505
Published
2026-10-04T23:28:59Z
Modified
2026-10-04T23:45:16Z
Summary
Malicious code in dotenv-promises (npm)
Details

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

Source: amazon-inspector (254f0bcbb8014fb07414eb0b41a898deac682aa8c8b7a8541a0f7538ac274f9a)

The package is published as 'dotenv-promises' but its bundled manifest declares the internal name 'node-env-buffer@2.2.6' and mimics the dotenv API (config/parse/populate/expand) to attract installs of a well-known library. On require of the main entry (dist/index.cjs) and on load of the CLI (dist/cli.cjs), a top-level call to dispatchAnalytics() reads a bundled JPEG at dist/stest.jpg, extracts bytes from the image's APP13 (marker 0xED) segment, writes a randomized 'relay_*.vbs' script into the OS temp directory that invokes powershell.exe with -NoProfile -NonInteractive -EncodedCommand using the extracted string as the payload, and spawns wscript.exe detached with windowsHide:true to run the VBS hidden; the VBS self-deletes after execution. Strings such as 'powershell.exe', 'wscript.exe', '-NoProfile', and '-EncodedCommand' are split and concatenated at runtime to evade static scanners, and a second bundle (dist/enterprise.js) is heavily obfuscated (string-array shift, while(!![]) control-flow flattening). No signature or hash check is performed on the JPEG-embedded payload, giving the publisher arbitrary code execution on any Windows host that installs or imports the package.

Database specific 
{
    "malicious-packages-origins":  [
        {
            "id":  "IN-MAL-2026-020977",
            "import_time":  "2026-10-04T23:40:47.754898714Z",
            "modified_time":  "2026-10-04T23:28:59Z",
            "sha256":  "254f0bcbb8014fb07414eb0b41a898deac682aa8c8b7a8541a0f7538ac274f9a",
            "source":  "amazon-inspector",
            "versions":  [
                "1.0.0"
            ]
        }
    ]
}
References
Credits

Affected packages

npm / dotenv-promises

Package

Name
dotenv-promises
View open source insights on deps.dev
Purl
pkg:npm/dotenv-promises

Affected ranges

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"
    }
]
indicators 
{
    "evidence_files":  [
        {
            "path":  "dist/index.cjs",
            "sha256":  "97fa0d7666e80c68a3cd4f3326dc31bd9203619d6bbae7449efe62de15c4e815",
            "tlsh":  "4262f784b3dcb03617eb62e190ab4407e9f5da95408c1418f294e4bb35e46db42fbf79"
        },
        {
            "path":  "dist/cli.cjs",
            "sha256":  "8556eeca50285aea12dfdcbc4ebcee110d916ef81ddde2e338dcf78bda2028cf",
            "tlsh":  "d792d74473cdb47a17e621d070ab500beaf2cb60459c1504f2dcb07627f4a9a96ebfb9"
        }
    ],
    "package_integrity":  [
        {
            "filename":  "dotenv-promises-1.0.0.tgz",
            "hashes":  {
                "sha1":  "fd002339dbbf16faeac8cc840d7c4500bef3a5fe",
                "sha512_sri":  "sha512-nphlrfcGKQjWVUCoTntkDTHeEloLm+cnLZKpSDPbhlsQ1nMpaPepynVAllO2orSCP9vIcIoCs54vPUfvL5QbaQ=="
            }
        }
    ]
}
source 
"https://github.com/ossf/malicious-packages/blob/main/osv/malicious/npm/dotenv-promises/MAL-2026-17505.json"