OpenSSF/OSV advisory MAL-2026-15631 confirms this npm version as malicious. The package presents itself as a Next.js update tool but its exported downloadAndRunUpdate function in index.js retrieves updater.hta from https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Acevatex/Testprogram/main/updater.hta, writes it to the OS temp directory, and executes it via spawn("cmd.exe", ["/c", destPath], { detached: true, windowsHide: true })...
Source
OpenSSF Malicious Packages via OSV
Summary
Malicious code in nextjsupdater (npm)
Details
The package presents itself as a Next.js update tool but its exported downloadAndRunUpdate function in index.js retrieves updater.hta from https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Acevatex/Testprogram/main/updater.hta, writes it to the OS temp directory, and executes it via spawn("cmd.exe", ["/c", destPath], { detached: true, windowsHide: true }). The fetch targets a mutable main branch of a personal GitHub account unrelated to the npm publisher and unrelated to Next.js, with no version pin and no integrity check, so whatever bytes that repository serves at invocation time run on the Windows host with the invoking user's privileges and no visible window. The package name and description mirror Next.js tooling to make the dropper appear legitimate.
Decision reason
OpenSSF Malicious Packages via OSV confirms nextjsupdater@1.2.1 as malicious (MAL-2026-15631): Malicious code in nextjsupdater (npm)