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Malicious code in system-performance-helper (npm)

Type: advisorySource: OSV1 source record

--- _-= Per source details. Do not edit below this line.=-_ ## Source: amazon-inspector (f382b23398f0b2550e29a61c444b8dbd45796d20c938dead6ada9d967d82cabc) Package advertises itself as a system performance monitoring helper, but its package.json declares a postinstall hook (`node install.js`) that opens a TCP socket and pipes a spawned OS shell (`/bin/sh` on Unix, `cmd.exe` on Windows) stdin/stdout/stderr through it, with auto-reconnect and a keep-alive interval — a canonical reverse-shell backdoor executed automatically on `npm install`. Bytes received from the remote peer are written directly into the shell, yielding full remote code execution on the installer's host. The destination is hardcoded as `HOST="YOUR_PUBLIC_IP"`, `PORT=4444`, so as-published the connect() fails DNS resolution and no callback occurs; the payload itself is fully functional and any republish with the placeholder filled in weaponizes every install. The visible exports in index.js (`getLoad`, `getTotalMemory` wrapping `os.loadavg`/`os.totalmem`) are a cover story; install.js contains `// Run silently` and `// Fail quietly` comments around the socket-to-shell pipe, and the advertised monitoring behavior is not present in the postinstall payload.

Announced Source revision 1
Original source ↗

MAL-2026-14194

Primary source · Revision 1

Imported from structured advisory data. Source references identify upstream records or fields; verify affected versions and your deployed configuration.

Security context

Source reference: osv:MAL-2026-14194

system-performance-helper

Source reference: /affected/0/package/name

Affected versions
1.0.0

Source reference: /affected/0/versions

1.0.1

Source reference: /affected/0/versions

Fixed versions
Not stated in this record
Prerequisites
Not stated in this record

Structured affected-version data

Original package identities and version rules from this source.

[
  {
    "package": {
      "name": "system-performance-helper",
      "purl": "pkg:npm/system-performance-helper",
      "ecosystem": "npm"
    },
    "versions": [
      "1.0.0",
      "1.0.1"
    ],
    "database_specific": {
      "cwes": [
        {
          "name": "Embedded Malicious Code",
          "cweId": "CWE-506",
          "description": "The product contains code that appears to be malicious in nature."
        }
      ],
      "source": "https://github.com/ossf/malicious-packages/blob/main/osv/malicious/npm/system-performance-helper/MAL-2026-14194.json",
      "indicators": {
        "evidence_files": [
          {
            "path": "install.js",
            "tlsh": "720146c076b9907e17f30171a1238637107740063346d2d4666f43a44fc2fd8978b6d7",
            "sha256": "cacd8299440a88e3cbfbdc173c5f7915eba17277fc7a987125317c5690d9b0d0"
          },
          {
            "path": "package.json",
            "tlsh": "2ad012118f00577334d876ea086e514766716f0ea2086c0c03df1148b28b9fa45bab2e",
            "sha256": "73842e4487a7e0f36ea60d081de66265378476296792a125807df32a4ea1b81d"
          }
        ],
        "package_integrity": [
          {
            "hashes": {
              "sha1": "d8bc3e3f365529f5c19dd1dea1fe5c8d5819cafb",
              "sha512_sri": "sha512-YQ+GzAIVdAsl2NpoUEMZx2T94QiWmrhQUav5DZXObxLkiNz+t5bTJbNw4eX48fK+H3BZOZcci3iTik5snICrow=="
            },
            "filename": "system-performance-helper-1.0.0.tgz"
          }
        ]
      }
    }
  }
]

Publisher severity

No explicit severity was provided.

Event
#13628 · Revision 1
Added to Heist Feed
Publisher date
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