system-performance-helper

{"modified":"2026-08-19T01:16:23Z","published":"2026-08-19T01:16:23Z","schema_version":"1.7.4","id":"MAL-2026-14194","summary":"Malicious code in system-performance-helper (npm)","details":"\n---\n_-= Per source details. Do not edit below this line.=-_\n\n## Source: amazon-inspector (f382b23398f0b2550e29a61c444b8dbd45796d20c938dead6ada9d967d82cabc)\nPackage 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.\n","affected":[{"package":{"ecosystem":"npm","name":"system-performance-helper"},"versions":["1.0.0"],"database_specific":{"cwes":[{"cweId":"CWE-506","description":"The product contains code that appears to be malicious in nature.","name":"Embedded Malicious Code"}],"indicators":{"evidence_files":[{"path":"install.js","sha256":"cacd8299440a88e3cbfbdc173c5f7915eba17277fc7a987125317c5690d9b0d0","tlsh":"720146c076b9907e17f30171a1238637107740063346d2d4666f43a44fc2fd8978b6d7"},{"path":"package.json","sha256":"73842e4487a7e0f36ea60d081de66265378476296792a125807df32a4ea1b81d","tlsh":"2ad012118f00577334d876ea086e514766716f0ea2086c0c03df1148b28b9fa45bab2e"}],"package_integrity":[{"filename":"system-performance-helper-1.0.0.tgz","hashes":{"sha1":"d8bc3e3f365529f5c19dd1dea1fe5c8d5819cafb","sha512_sri":"sha512-YQ+GzAIVdAsl2NpoUEMZx2T94QiWmrhQUav5DZXObxLkiNz+t5bTJbNw4eX48fK+H3BZOZcci3iTik5snICrow=="}}]}}}],"references":[{"type":"PACKAGE","url":"https://www.npmjs.com/package/system-performance-helper/v/1.0.0"}],"credits":[{"name":"Amazon Inspector","type":"FINDER","contact":["inspector-research@amazon.com"]}],"database_specific":{"malicious-packages-origins":[{"id":"IN-MAL-2026-018270","import_time":"2026-08-19T01:34:41.080497765Z","modified_time":"2026-08-19T01:16:23Z","sha256":"f382b23398f0b2550e29a61c444b8dbd45796d20c938dead6ada9d967d82cabc","source":"amazon-inspector","versions":["1.0.0"]}]}}