Malicious code in minequest (npm)
The npm package minequest contained malicious code disguised as a benign thank-you message. A postinstall hook executed a 33MB Go-compiled binary on Linux x64 systems during installation, despite documentation claiming no native binaries or install hooks.
- Disclosed
- Last updated
- Blast radius
- All npm users who installed minequest during the malicious period on Linux x64 systems
- Ecosystems
- Attack vectors
- Affected entities
- minequestnpm package containing malicious postinstall hook
The minequest npm package contained a malicious postinstall hook that executed during installation. The package.json declared a postinstall script that ran scripts/init.js, which made assets/thanks-amd64.elf executable and executed it on Linux x64 systems.\n\nThe package's README falsely claimed it contained "no install hooks, no native binaries — just readable JavaScript." The scripts/build-elf.js file was written to appear as a fully-auditable ~250-byte hand-assembled ELF binary that would only print a thank-you message, creating a false audit trail.\n\nHowever, the actual binary shipped in the tarball was a 33,648,788-byte Go-compiled executable (sha256 05b696…4420) containing Go runtime symbols, chacha8, and references to /proc/self/cgroup, /proc/self/mountinfo, and syscall filter strings. This opaque binary executed with installer privileges on every Linux x64 npm install, with no description of its actual behavior available to users.\n\nThe incident was identified by Amazon Inspector and credited to the OpenSSF malicious-packages project.
Indicators of compromise
- Packages
- minequest
- Hashes
- 05b696…4420
Remediation
- Immediately uninstall minequest from all systems
- Audit systems that installed minequest on Linux x64 for unauthorized activity, process execution, and network connections
- Review npm audit logs for minequest installation history
- Consider running forensic analysis on affected systems given the binary's references to cgroup and mountinfo
- Update npm to the latest version and run npm audit to identify any remaining compromised dependencies
Sources
- GitHub Advisory GHSA-vh3m-p3wg-4r8j · GitHub Advisory Database
Cite this entry
"Malicious code in minequest (npm)." supplychainattack.org, Supply Chain Attack Incident Catalog. Disclosed August 19, 2026; last updated August 19, 2026. https://supplychainattack.org/incident/malicious-code-in-minequest-npm-om0rg0
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