mfahelper

GHSA-vxqj-q8pf-p87h

Malicious code in mfahelper (npm)

Details

**Severity:** Critical

**Affected versions:** `= 1.0.0`

## Source: amazon-inspector (e6df54a49845aa55e3310261ccc7002fe5aabcdf3924875bf7c1ad3fb4751297)
package.json declares its only runtime dependency, `node-net-pool`, as an https tarball pointing at the `main` branch of an unrelated GitHub account (`https://github.com/trktgq0wbre1/node-net-pool/archive/refs/heads/main.tar.gz`) — no version pin, no commit SHA, no integrity hash. `npm install` fetches whatever bytes currently live at that mutable URL and executes any lifecycle scripts they contain on the installer's machine. In addition, lib/cache.js runs `module.require('node-net-pool')` inside a swallowed try/catch at top level, so the third-party payload also loads when a consumer `require()`s the package, extending the code-execution surface beyond install time to any downstream import. The account owning the tarball URL is unrelated to the package publisher, so whoever controls that branch controls arbitrary code delivered to every installer.

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Credit: [OpenSSF](https://github.com/ossf/malicious-packages) ([source](https://github.com/ossf/malicious-packages/blob/9b3ccbf4bfc4af3c2e53e9b0729d217beb12d481/osv/malicious/npm/mfahelper/MAL-2026-17308.json))

**References:**
- https://github.com/ossf/malicious-packages/blob/9b3ccbf4bfc4af3c2e53e9b0729d217beb12d481/osv/malicious/npm/mfahelper/MAL-2026-17308.json
- https://www.npmjs.com/package/mfahelper/v/1.0.0
- https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-vxqj-q8pf-p87h

Compromised versions (1)

= 1.0.0

Any computer that installed or ran a compromised version should be considered fully compromised. Rotate every secret on that machine from a clean environment.