novel-suduko

{"modified":"2026-08-19T06:22:31Z","published":"2026-08-19T06:22:31Z","schema_version":"1.7.4","id":"MAL-2026-14269","summary":"Malicious code in novel-suduko (npm)","details":"\n---\n_-= Per source details. Do not edit below this line.=-_\n\n## Source: amazon-inspector (21725a395742c4e3e10cd14a3c787d7a01d5cea63feec2515310f471d497f8ad)\nThe package's postinstall lifecycle script chmods and executes the bundled binary native/hint-linux-amd64 via spawnSync(BIN, [], { stdio: 'inherit' }) on every linux-x64 install, with errors silently swallowed by a try/catch that only console.error's. The README falsely states the postinstall only performs chmod +x and 'executes nothing.' The shipped native/src/hint.go is a ~4 KB self-contained sudoku hint program using only fmt/os/io/bufio/json/strings, which would produce roughly a 2 MB stripped static Go binary; the shipped artifact is 33,976,468 bytes and its string table references facilities absent from the source (chacha8, /proc/self/cgroup, /proc/self/mountinfo, GODEBUG parsing). The declared build:native command in package.json cannot reproduce the shipped artifact from the shipped source. The Go file is a decoy alibi for a much larger opaque native payload that is executed on the installer's machine at npm install time.\n","affected":[{"package":{"ecosystem":"npm","name":"novel-suduko"},"versions":["1.0.1"],"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":"scripts/postinstall.js","sha256":"f66959ba838ebc3b6cdcc26b8b1abe85c875ba514e229934bde86b60c0f2dfd3","tlsh":"c701d0100eb3633504f128daab0934932827e0626325fd90f4ac438dcf81aa84425fe9"},{"path":"native/hint-linux-amd64","sha256":"ac6b4523fbe02c79129e58bdc8d613ddfb3a786c23dd03fa4ab28ab38ff3e6e5","tlsh":"52774b47e8e22a94c4ead271d529825bbb713c0d1b3823eb1b90f3741f36bd05a7a751"}],"package_integrity":[{"filename":"novel-suduko-1.0.1.tgz","hashes":{"sha1":"4699475d46fa60bd790168259f8e55164fe92c7c","sha512_sri":"sha512-VvMIbj7l0m6pBfCVkNHaOIlg05Y9PwnymDfifgbeNRkVaWG6hTn5IKSji6UO9BnwegC8qUT1eu9qfl98N2yrlA=="}}]}}}],"references":[{"type":"PACKAGE","url":"https://www.npmjs.com/package/novel-suduko/v/1.0.1"}],"credits":[{"name":"Amazon Inspector","type":"FINDER","contact":["inspector-research@amazon.com"]}],"database_specific":{"malicious-packages-origins":[{"id":"IN-MAL-2026-018380","import_time":"2026-08-19T06:49:44.345954045Z","modified_time":"2026-08-19T06:22:31Z","sha256":"21725a395742c4e3e10cd14a3c787d7a01d5cea63feec2515310f471d497f8ad","source":"amazon-inspector","versions":["1.0.1"]}]}}