registry / Malware / tailwind-kinetic / 2.0.8

tailwind-kinetic@2.0.8

A configurable, namespaced Animate.css integration for Tailwind CSS

OpenSSF/OSV Malicious Advisory

imported 3d ago · by OpenSSF/OSV

OpenSSF/OSV advisory MAL-2026-18084 confirms this npm version as malicious.

Advisory

MAL-2026-18084

Source

OpenSSF Malicious Packages via OSV

Summary

Malicious code in tailwind-kinetic (npm)

Details

tailwind-kinetic (2.0.6, 2.0.8) is a Tailwind CSS plugin from the fake job interview campaign behind MAL-2026-17665 and MAL-2026-17666: the same Animate.css integration template, README and description, published by keinsell-jh on 2026-09-28. src/motion.js:5 requires the private scoped package @aaron205whitmore/postcss-animate-utils, which is not readable on the public registry and resolves only with the npm token committed in the lure repository's web/.npmrc, so the code it delivers runs when tailwind.config.js loads the plugin and the dev server starts. The published tarball contains no install scripts and no network code; the payload lives in the private dependency, which was not retrieved. Twenty-six such packages under seventeen accounts were published between 2026-07-28 and 2026-10-09.

References

OpenSSF/OSV advisory ADVISORY ADVISORY ADVISORY WEB

Independent LPM AI assessment

Manual Review

Independent AI assessment: manual_review. LPM AI review remains unresolved.

The package uses the unresolved dependency in its runtime style-generation path. Since its source was unavailable, the dependency's behavior cannot be resolved from this inspection; this is not evidence of a confirmed attack.

Static reason

No blocking static signals were detected.

Trigger

Tailwind invokes the package plugin callback to build styles.

Impact

The dependency's potential effects remain unknown; the inspected source does not establish an attack.

Mechanism

Style generation calls a PostCSS utility from a runtime dependency whose source was unavailable for inspection.

AI rationale

Evidence

package.jsonsrc/motion.jsplugin.js

Independent scan evidence

public snapshot

AI called this Manual Review at 94.0% confidence as Unknown with medium false-positive risk.

AI review observations

The manifest declares @aaron205whitmore/postcss-animate-utils as a runtime dependency.
The motion module imports that dependency and invokes it while building the PostCSS processor.
The plugin entrypoint reaches style building when Tailwind invokes the plugin callback.

Evidence against

The dependency source could not be inspected, so its runtime behavior and safety remain unresolved.

Behavioral surface

Source

Filesystem

Supply chainNo supply-chain packaging signals triggered.

ManifestNo manifest risk signals triggered.

scanned 5 file(s), 10.2 KB of source

Source & flagged code

4 flagged

package.jsonView file

Lines 12-49json

12 ],

13 "homepage": "https://sericpieap.github.io/tailwind-kinetic/",

14 "repository": "https://github.com/sericpieap/tailwind-kinetic/",

15 "author": "sericpieap",

16 "license": "MIT",

17 "keywords": [

18 "tailwindcss",

19 "tailwindcss-plugin",

20 "animate.css",

21 "animation",

22 "keyframes",

23 "motion"

24 ],

25 "scripts": {

26 "lint": "eslint . --ext .js",

27 "test": "node --test"

28 },

29 "dependencies": {

30 "animate.css": "^4.1.1",

31 "postcss": "^8.4.5",

32 "@aaron205whitmore/postcss-animate-utils": "^1.0.1",

33 "postcss-js": "^3.0.3",

34 "postcss-selector-parser": "^6.0.8"

High

Suspicious Dependency Evidence

The manifest declares @aaron205whitmore/postcss-animate-utils as a runtime dependency.

package.jsonView on unpkg · L32

35 },

36 "devDependencies": {

37 "eslint": "^8.5.0",

38 "eslint-config-airbnb-base": "15.0.0",

39 "eslint-plugin-import": "^2.25.2",

40 "tailwindcss": "^3.0.7"

41 },

42 "peerDependencies": {

43 "tailwindcss": "^3"

44 },

45 "engines": {

46 "node": ">=18"

47 }

48}

src/motion.jsView file

Lines 1-34javascript

1'use strict';

3const postcss = require('postcss');

4const postcssJs = require('postcss-js');

5const

plugin.jsView file

Lines 1-22javascript

1'use strict';

3const tailwindPlugin = require('tailwindcss/plugin');

4const { loadCatalog } = require('./src/catalog');

5const {

Source & flagged code

4 flagged · loading source

package.jsonView file

32"@aaron205whitmore/postcss-animate-utils": "^1.0.1", "postcss-js": "^3.0.3", "postcss-sele

High

Suspicious Dependency Evidence

The manifest declares @aaron205whitmore/postcss-animate-utils as a runtime dependency.

package.jsonView on unpkg · L32

src/motion.jsView file

5const postcssAnimateUtils = require('@aaron205whitmore/postcss-animate-utils'); function toPostcssOptions(config) { return { variables: { enabled: true, se

High

Suspicious Dependency Evidence

The motion module imports that dependency and invokes it while building the PostCSS processor.

src/motion.jsView on unpkg · L5

28const processor = postcss([postcssAnimateUtils(toPostcssOptions(config))]); const result = processor.process('', { from: undefined }).sync(); return postcssJs.objec

High

Suspicious Dependency Evidence

The motion module imports that dependency and invokes it while building the PostCSS processor.

Findings

4 High2 Low

HighSuspicious Dependency Evidencepackage.json

HighSuspicious Dependency Evidencesrc/motion.js

HighAi Review Evidenceplugin.js

LowScripts Present

LowFilesystem

Affected versions and remediation

This report applies to tailwind-kinetic@2.0.8.

See all versions of tailwind-kinetic for other recorded verdicts.

Avoid installing tailwind-kinetic@2.0.8. Remove it from direct dependencies and check your lockfile for transitive copies.
Choose an independently verified alternative or release. This report does not establish that other versions are safe.
If this version ran, investigate the affected machine and build environment. Rotate credentials it could access and rebuild from a trusted environment.

Evidence last updated: 2026-10-20 10:11:42.699Z (UTC).

Source advisory published: 2026-10-19 00:00:00.000Z (UTC).

Think this verdict is wrong? Dispute it on GitHub or read how reports are produced.

OpenSSF/OSV Malicious Advisory

Independent LPM AI assessment

Independent scan evidence

Source & flagged code

Source & flagged code

Findings

Affected versions and remediation

Related packages

Other malware packages

Behavioral surface

Source & flagged code

Related packages

Other malware packages