Which versions of howdybase32 are malicious?

The following npm versions of howdybase32 are flagged malicious: 1.0.0. Treat any of these as compromised.

How do I remediate howdybase32 if I installed it?

howdybase32 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.

I already installed howdybase32 — how do I know if it already compromised me?

If howdybase32 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.

Is howdybase32 part of a known attack campaign?

Yes — howdybase32 is associated with the IN-MAL-2026-007495 campaign. Packages in the same campaign often share infrastructure and payloads, so check whether any related packages are also in your dependency tree.

How do I find howdybase32 across my projects, lockfiles, and CI pipelines?

Search your lockfiles and build artifacts for howdybase32 (version 1.0.0).

Malicious package

howdybase32npm

Advisory published Jun 25, 2026Updated Jun 25, 2026

howdybase32 is a confirmed malicious npm package (MAL-2026-6449) that opens a backdoor for remote access (malicious version 1.0.0). Do not install it — remove it immediately and rotate any exposed credentials.

Malicious code in howdybase32 (npm)

MAL-2026-6449

Immediate action

Remove the package, then rotate any secrets the build/runtime could reach.

npm uninstall howdybase32

What this malware does

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.

Malicious versions

1 flagged

1.0.0

Indicators of compromise (SHA-256)

c0eab759e668db62de0eaa10d1f5d32c689b00c7c3d6d2b1517439cc5df3e956

Detection & response playbook

Backdoor / remote access

Find it
Search your lockfiles and build artifacts for howdybase32 (version 1.0.0).
If you installed it — respond
howdybase32 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 howdybase32 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

No. howdybase32 on npm has been identified as a malicious package (version 1.0.0 flagged). It should be removed immediately — do not install or keep it in your dependency tree.

Campaign

IN-MAL-2026-007495

References

npmjs.com

Credits

Amazon Inspector · finder

Detect & block this

O3 blocks howdybase32-class packages before install and in CI — and if it already ran, its runtime egress monitoring catches the C2 callback and severs the channel.

Malware detection Runtime egress monitoring

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