@ppa-web-components/ppa-headerfooternpm
Advisory published Updated
@ppa-web-components/ppa-headerfooter is a confirmed malicious npm package (MAL-2026-18274) that opens a backdoor for remote access (malicious versions 1.0.0, 1.0.1, 1.1.0…). Do not install it — remove it immediately and rotate any exposed credentials.
Malicious code in @ppa-web-components/ppa-headerfooter (npm)
What this malware does
The package ships a beacon.cjs script wired as both the postinstall lifecycle hook (node beacon.cjs) and a require-time side effect from index.js. On install and on require(), the beacon POSTs installer identifiers — os.hostname(), the install path (__dirname), process.cwd(), process.version, and the package name — to the hardcoded bare-IP plaintext HTTP endpoint http://185.158.107.175:8787/_ah/dc. The package otherwise provides no functionality: index.js exports a Proxy that returns a no-op function for every property access, so the beacon is the sole purpose of the package. The combination of a scoped name resembling a web-components namespace, a 'Compatibility shim' description, a functionless Proxy stub, and a bare-IP recon beacon is the shape of a dependency-confusion / typosquat probe measuring where the package resolves inside private build environments, typically preceding a targeted follow-up payload.
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-headerfooter (7 malicious versions).
If you installed it — respond
@ppa-web-components/ppa-headerfooter 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-headerfooter 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
Detect & block this
O3 blocks @ppa-web-components/ppa-headerfooter-class packages before install and in CI — and if it already ran, its runtime egress monitoring catches the C2 callback and severs the channel.