Which versions of markscan are malicious?

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

How do I remediate markscan if I installed it?

markscan is built to steal secrets, so assume every credential the build or runtime could read is compromised. Remove it from your project and lockfile, then rotate ALL exposed secrets — npm/registry tokens, cloud keys, CI/CD secrets, SSH keys, and any .env values — from a known-clean machine. Audit logs for unauthorized use of those credentials.

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

If markscan 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 markscan part of a known attack campaign?

Yes — markscan is associated with the IN-MAL-2026-011253 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 markscan across my projects, lockfiles, and CI pipelines?

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

Malicious package

markscannpm

Advisory published Jul 20, 2026Updated Aug 4, 2026

markscan is a confirmed malicious npm package (MAL-2026-10960) that steals credentials and exfiltrates sensitive data (malicious version 1.0.0). Do not install it — remove it immediately and rotate any exposed credentials.

Malicious code in markscan (npm)

MAL-2026-10960

Immediate action

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

npm uninstall markscan

What this malware does

The markscan package was published to the npm registry by user 'jonothhu' (maintainer email [email protected]) as one of 19 packages in a dependency-confusion campaign targeting the 'markscan', 'akrai', and 'iphouse' namespaces, published in both unscoped and scoped (@scope/name) forms so that a misconfigured resolver installs the public lookalike instead of an intended private/internal dependency. Each package self-describes as an 'AUTHORIZED SECURITY RESEARCH CANARY' (static token PATHC-CANARY-2026, contact [email protected]), but ships an unconsented install-time beacon and provides no legitimate functionality.

The package declares a postinstall hook ("node postinstall.js") that executes automatically on npm install. The bundled postinstall.js collects host reconnaissance - the package/canary name, the static token 'PATHC-CANARY-2026', an event label, a UTC timestamp, the Node.js version, the current working directory, the platform, and os.hostname() - and exfiltrates it via HTTPS POST to a hardcoded anonymous dead-drop at https://webhook.site/129cb2ee-ba08-4b3c-989c-270dc0030350 (the same collector across all 19 packages). Request errors are swallowed.

The self-attestation of 'authorized security research' present in the package metadata is unverifiable and does not change the disposition: the package performs unconsented telemetry collection and exfiltration at install time to an anonymous collector, matching the behavior of a dependency-confusion reconnaissance beacon. Install-time behavior and the shared collector endpoint were confirmed by static analysis of a sample spanning all three namespaces and both scoped and unscoped variants.

postinstall.js runs unconditionally on npm install and POSTs a JSON payload containing the installer's hostname, current working directory, platform, Node.js version, and a timestamp to a hardcoded webhook.site collector (https://webhook.site/129cb2ee-ba08-4b3c-989c-270dc0030350). The payload also carries a static token string ('PATHC-CANARY-2026'). The package's self-description as an 'authorized research canary' does not constitute installer consent — installers of markscan have not opted into the beacon, and host identifiers are transmitted to an author-controlled endpoint at install time.

Malicious versions

1 flagged

1.0.0

Indicators of compromise (SHA-256)

cabd1904cc96cf1107115d9d76f4a53b29c7311f3755e79610bf72eae1c3d023

Detection & response playbook

Credential / info stealer

Find it
Search your lockfiles and build artifacts for markscan (version 1.0.0).
If you installed it — respond
markscan is built to steal secrets, so assume every credential the build or runtime could read is compromised. Remove it from your project and lockfile, then rotate ALL exposed secrets — npm/registry tokens, cloud keys, CI/CD secrets, SSH keys, and any .env values — from a known-clean machine. Audit logs for unauthorized use of those credentials.
Did it already run?
If markscan 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. markscan 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-2026-011253

References

Credits

Amazon Inspector · finder
SafeDep · finder

Detect & block this

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

Malware detection Runtime egress monitoring

Explore

All malware advisories How O3 detects malware Vulnerability database