Vulnerability MAL-2026-18713
Summary
Malicious code in rafael-bails (npm)
Details
rafael-bails is a fork of the Baileys WhatsApp Web library that silently subscribes the installer's own authenticated WhatsApp account to an author-chosen WhatsApp Channel. Part of the campaign OX Security documented as "PhantomSub" (2026-09-28): https://www.ox.security/blog/phantomsub-malicious-npm-campaign-secretly-adds-users-to-whatsapp-spam-channels/ . Static read of the published 1.1.3 tarball on 2026-10-16 (not executed) found a hardcoded channel JID 120363401521242390@newsletter together with the newsletter FOLLOW query wired to run automatically after the socket connects, with errors suppressed. Same family as the withdrawn MAL-2026-4519 (chromestaff-baileys 1.1.3). Live on npm with no OSV record as of 2026-10-16.