@ppa-web-components/ppa-buildernpm
Advisory published Updated
@ppa-web-components/ppa-builder is a confirmed malicious npm package (MAL-2026-18273) that opens a backdoor for remote access (malicious versions 0.0.1, 1.0.0, 1.0.1…). Do not install it — remove it immediately and rotate any exposed credentials.
Malicious code in @ppa-web-components/ppa-builder (npm)
What this malware does
@ppa-web-components/ppa-builder 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 (0.0.1, 1.0.0, 1.0.1, 99.0.1, 2.0.1, 3.0.0) 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.
The package is described as a 'Compatibility shim' and ships a stub Proxy-based main plus beacon.cjs. The package.json declares scripts.postinstall: 'node beacon.cjs', and the main entry also invokes the same fire() routine on require. On both triggers, beacon.cjs collects installer identifiers — os.hostname(), __dirname (install path), process.cwd(), process.version, and the package name — and POSTs them in cleartext to the hardcoded bare-IP endpoint http://185.158.107.175:8787/_ah/dc. The destination is not a registry, publisher, or any documented infrastructure; it is a plain-HTTP bare IP with no TLS. An inline source comment states that a build that completes and calls back is cleaner evidence, confirming the artifact's purpose is to signal successful resolution and execution on installer machines. Combined with a scoped name resembling an internal namespace and no real library functionality, this matches the dependency-confusion / namesquat callback-probe shape.
Malicious versions
Indicators of compromise (SHA-256)
Detection & response playbook
Backdoor / remote accessFind it
Search your lockfiles and build artifacts for @ppa-web-components/ppa-builder (6 malicious versions).
If you installed it — respond
@ppa-web-components/ppa-builder establishes remote access, so treat any host that installed it as fully compromised. Isolate the machine, remove the package, rotate all credentials it could reach, and rebuild from a trusted image rather than cleaning in place — a backdoor may have planted additional persistence.
Did it already run?
If @ppa-web-components/ppa-builder was installed, its post-install payload may already have run. Removing the package does not undo that — check outbound connections and credential use from the install window onward.
Frequently asked questions
Campaign
References
Credits
- Amazon Inspector · finder
- InvisiRisk, Inc. · finder
Detect & block this
O3 blocks @ppa-web-components/ppa-builder-class packages before install and in CI — and if it already ran, its runtime egress monitoring catches the C2 callback and severs the channel.