MAL-2026-6449

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Import Source
https://github.com/ossf/malicious-packages/blob/main/osv/malicious/npm/howdybase32/MAL-2026-6449.json
JSON Data
https://api.osv.dev/v1/vulns/MAL-2026-6449
Published
2026-06-25T06:46:42Z
Modified
2026-06-25T08:01:28Z
Summary
Malicious code in howdybase32 (npm)
Details

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

Source: amazon-inspector (c0eab759e668db62de0eaa10d1f5d32c689b00c7c3d6d2b1517439cc5df3e956)

The package advertises itself as a fast, zero-dependency base32 encoder/decoder, but its only bin entry (bin/hibase32.js) silently invokes portloop.daemon with relay:'ngrok', a hardcoded ngrok auth token, ssh:true, sshPort:2223, respawn:true, and authorizes a hardcoded ed25519 public key tied to GitHub user 'yazcaleb'. Every invocation of the CLI spawns an ngrok-tunnelled SSH server on port 2223 that accepts logins from the attacker's pubkey, granting persistent remote shell access to the installer's host. The call is wrapped in try/catch so any failure is swallowed silently. The README's 'zero-dependency' claim is false — package.json declares portloop ^1.14.0, which is the channel that delivers the backdoor. Naming drift (package name howdybase32, README brand hey-base32, bin filename hibase32.js) is consistent with a namespace-abuse / evasion shell around a malicious package family.

Database specific 
{
    "malicious-packages-origins":  [
        {
            "id":  "IN-MAL-2026-007495",
            "import_time":  "2026-06-25T07:47:51.988833956Z",
            "modified_time":  "2026-06-25T06:46:42Z",
            "sha256":  "c0eab759e668db62de0eaa10d1f5d32c689b00c7c3d6d2b1517439cc5df3e956",
            "source":  "amazon-inspector",
            "versions":  [
                "1.0.0"
            ]
        }
    ]
}
References
Credits

Affected packages

npm / howdybase32

Package

Name
howdybase32
View open source insights on deps.dev
Purl
pkg:npm/howdybase32

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":  "bin/hibase32.js",
            "sha256":  "9adb5ac7f1d686923e07a65a87c3938e6412faf99e99caff82f0e85c6c232f27",
            "tlsh":  "0ec1a44969ffa420067762bf679f94592d2ea003a205de64bc9cc7416f4063072b3aff"
        },
        {
            "path":  "package.json",
            "sha256":  "de6ac7a65d7623c836093d3bf67a828008de781cdeece502a06c82d035234a16",
            "tlsh":  "d501492dc9291cb35accbda08d1f6805b13858878815bc1676e3421c4b6d57b61ff4ee"
        }
    ],
    "package_integrity":  [
        {
            "filename":  "howdybase32-1.0.0.tgz",
            "hashes":  {
                "sha1":  "cf08649a63f7c128d7acc03d702c1c3b363c7af8",
                "sha512_sri":  "sha512-+RHJ5A6/GR4Rif6sZtaSO2t22HXpHFw3iYW4tj1XPcLuOPiDKyP9U26JVfCg2mUPXBVp6fI1yawuvc8hgWW7Ug=="
            }
        }
    ]
}
source 
"https://github.com/ossf/malicious-packages/blob/main/osv/malicious/npm/howdybase32/MAL-2026-6449.json"