registry / AI-agent control-surface risk / @chem-x/starter-kit / 26.9.17-1437

@chem-x/starter-kit@26.9.17-1437

Chemical X Protocol: Private drop-in architecture starter kit and capsule generator

AI Security Review

scanned 11d ago · by lpm-firewall-ai

Source inspection confirms an automatic postinstall path that mutates consumer AI-agent configuration without a consent check. This meets the install-time control-surface block policy; the inspected evidence does not establish credential theft or destructive behavior.

Static reason

High-risk behavior combination matched malicious policy.; previous stored version diff introduced dangerous source

Trigger

Installing the package with lifecycle scripts enabled runs its postinstall hook.

Impact

Agent tools become available through configuration changes the consumer did not explicitly request during installation.

Mechanism

The hook targets the consuming project, writes Cursor and VS Code MCP files, and, when an Antigravity config directory exists, registers the Chemical X server in the user's global config and synchronizes agent schemas.

Policy narrative

The package's postinstall hook targets the consuming project and installs MCP configuration without an explicit consent gate. It always writes project-level Cursor and VS Code configuration, and conditionally writes a user-level Antigravity configuration when that config directory already exists. This is an unconsented install-time mutation of AI-agent control surfaces.

AI rationale

Evidence

package.jsoncli/postinstall.jscli/mcp/installer.js.cursor/mcp.json.vscode/mcp.json~/.gemini/config/mcp_config.json

Decision evidence

public snapshot

AI identified this as a dangerous AI-agent capability at 94.0% confidence with low false-positive risk.

Evidence for policy risk

package.json runs cli/postinstall.js automatically after installation.
The postinstall targets the consuming project and calls installAllMcpConfigs without a consent check.
The installer writes MCP configuration into project Cursor and VS Code files, and into the user-level Antigravity config when that directory exists.
The Antigravity config registers a Chemical X MCP server and synchronizes agent tool schemas during installation.

Evidence against

The Antigravity configuration write is conditional on an existing config directory.
The configured MCP server uses a local package entrypoint when found, or the chemx command otherwise; the inspected excerpts do not establish credential theft or destructive behavior.

Behavioral surface

Source

ChildProcessEnvironmentVarsFilesystemNetworkShell

Supply chain

HighEntropyStringsUrlStrings

Manifest

Source & flagged code

12 flagged

package.jsonView file

Lines 29-69json

29 "README.md",

30 "LICENSE",

31 "docs",

32 "assets"

33 ],

34 "exports": {

35 ".": "./cli/index.js",

36 "./audit": "./cli/audit.js",

37 "./build": "./cli/build.js",

38 "./search": "./cli/search.js",

39 "./mcp": "./cli/mcp/index.js",

40 "./reader": "./cli/reader.js",

41 "./patcher": "./cli/patcher.js",

42 "./errors": "./cli/errors/index.js"

43 },

44 "scripts": {

45 "chemx": "node cli/index.js",

46 "test": "node --test cli/audit/*.spec.js cli/mcp/*.spec.js cli/build/*.spec.js cli/team/*.spec.js cli/errors/*.spec.js cli/*.spec.js",

47 "typecheck": "tsc --noEmit",

48 "publish:both": "node scripts/publish-both.mjs",

49 "postinstall": "node cli/postinstall.js",

High

Install Time Lifecycle Scripts

Package defines install-time lifecycle scripts.

package.jsonView on unpkg · L49

Medium

Ambiguous Install Lifecycle Script

Install-time lifecycle script is not statically allowlisted and needs review.

package.jsonView on unpkg · L49

50 "chemx:mcp": "chemx mcp",

51 "chemx:verify": "chemx verify",

52 "chemx:test": "chemx test",

53 "chemx:typecheck": "chemx typecheck"

54 },

55 "dependencies": {

56 "@babel/parser": "^7.29.8",

57 "@babel/traverse": "^7.29.8",

58 "@babel/types": "^7.29.8",

59 "react": "^18.3.1",

60 "react-dom": "^18.3.1"

61 },

62 "devDependencies": {

63 "@types/babel__traverse": "^7.28.0",

64 "@types/node": "^22.20.2",

65 "@types/react": "^18.3.31",

66 "@types/react-dom": "^18.3.7",

67 "chemx": "26.9.17-1100",

68 "typescript": "^5.9.3"

69 }

cli/errors/errors.spec.jsView file

Lines 7-47javascript

7 maskSensitiveTokens,

8 normalizeHomePath,

9 sanitizeText,

10 sanitizeStackTrace

11} from './sanitizer.js';

12import {

13 buildIssueTitle,

14 buildIssueBody,

15 buildIssueWebUrl,

16 formatIssueContent

cli/audit-preflight-git.jsView file

Lines 1-21javascript

1import fs from 'node:fs';

2import { spawnSync } from 'node:child_process';

High

Child Process

Package source references child process execution.

cli/audit-preflight-git.jsView on unpkg · L1

4const SOURCE_FILE_PATTERN = /

cli/terminal.jsView file

Lines 1-30javascript

1import readline from "node:readline";

2import { spawnSync } from "node:child_process";

3import { formatChemicalXGradient, ANSI } from "./theme.js";

5export const openBrowser

cli/license.jsView file

Lines 1-23javascript

1import fs from 'node:fs';

2import path from 'node:path';

3import os from 'node:os';

4import { spawnSync } from 'node:child_process';

cli/mcp/installer.jsView file

1Install-time code directly mutates a foreign AI-agent control surface: L20: export const mergeMcpServerConfig = (existingJsonString = '', serverDef = {}) => { L21: let parsed = { mcpServers: {} }; L22: ... L30: L31: const hasMcpServersObject = Boolean(parsed.mcpServers && typeof parsed.mcpServers === 'object'); L32: if (!hasMcpServersObject) { L33: parsed.mcpServers = {}; L34: } L35: L36: parsed.mcpServers[SERVER_KEY] = serverDef; L37: return JSON.stringify(parsed, null, 2) + '\n'; ... L90: const cursorDir = path.join(resolvedTarget, '.cursor'); Write operation from cli/mcp/installer.js: L20: export const mergeMcpServerConfig = (existingJsonString = '', serverDef = {}) => { L21: let parsed = { mcpServers: {} }; L22: ... L30: L31: const hasMcpServersObject = Boolean(parsed.mcpServers &

Critical

Ai Agent Control Hijack

Source creates an unconsented AI-agent control surface through install-time mutation or a default unauthenticated remote skill channel.

cli/mcp/installer.jsView on unpkg · L1

cli/scaffold.jsView file

•Runtime or CLI code links a write operation to an explicit external AI-agent control path: udes('--no-interactive') || boolean(process.env.ci) || process.stdout?.istty === false || process.stdin?.istty === false || boolean(process.argv?.some((arg) => arg === '--headless' || arg === '--ci' || arg === '--yes' || arg === '-y')); if (isheadless) { targetname = 'my-molecular-app'; } else { targetname = hasgum() ? guminput('project directory name:', 'my-molecular-app') : await promptquestion('project directory name [my-molecular-app]: '); } } const finaldirname = targetname.trim() || 'my-molecular-app'; const targetdir = path.resolve(process.cwd(), finaldirname); const direxists = fs.existssync(targetdir); const isdirno

High

External Ai Agent Control Surface Mutation

Runtime or CLI source writes behavior-bearing configuration into a user or project AI-agent control surface.

cli/scaffold.jsView on unpkg

•Manifest-trigger-reachable source links an external AI-agent control path to a behavior-bearing write operation. s = {}; if (!licensekey) { process.stdout.write( '\n\x1b[38;2;98;201;255m⚡ chemical x: community edition (free)\x1b[0m\n' + 'the community version is free because you tell us about your project\n' + 'and the app will automatically post your scorecard to our github discussions.\n' + 'you get a free plug, we get data to prove chemical x works and brings real value.\n' + 'everybody wins! thank you for supporting our community version.\n\n' ); files = loadlocalblueprintfiles(); iscommunity = true; } else { files = await fetchstarterkitfiles(licensekey); } let targetname = projectname; if (!targetname) { const isheadle

High

Trigger Reachable External Ai Agent Control Surface Mutation

Manifest-trigger-reachable source writes behavior-bearing configuration into a user or project AI-agent control surface.

scripts/pre-commit.shView file

•path = scripts/pre-commit.sh kind = build_helper sizeBytes = 5174 magicHex = [redacted]

Medium

Ships Build Helper

Package ships non-JavaScript build or shell helper files.

scripts/pre-commit.shView on unpkg

Source & flagged code

12 flagged · loading source

package.jsonView file

•scripts.postinstall = node cli/postinstall.js

High

Install Time Lifecycle Scripts

Package defines install-time lifecycle scripts.

package.jsonView on unpkg

•scripts.postinstall = node cli/postinstall.js

Medium

Ambiguous Install Lifecycle Script

Install-time lifecycle script is not statically allowlisted and needs review.

package.jsonView on unpkg

cli/errors/errors.spec.jsView file

27patternName = github_pat severity = critical line = 27

Critical

Critical Secret

Package contains a critical-looking secret pattern.

cli/errors/errors.spec.jsView on unpkg · L27

Findings

3 Critical7 High5 Medium4 Low

CriticalCritical Secretcli/errors/errors.spec.js

CriticalAi Agent Control Hijackcli/mcp/installer.js

CriticalSecret Patterncli/errors/errors.spec.js

HighInstall Time Lifecycle Scriptspackage.json

HighChild Processcli/audit-preflight-git.js

HighShellcli/terminal.js

HighSame File Env Network Executioncli/license.js

HighExternal Ai Agent Control Surface Mutationcli/scaffold.js

HighTrigger Reachable External Ai Agent Control Surface Mutationcli/scaffold.js

HighPrevious Version Dangerous Deltacli/license.js

MediumAmbiguous Install Lifecycle Scriptpackage.json

Affected versions and remediation

This report applies to @chem-x/starter-kit@26.9.17-1437.

See all versions of @chem-x/starter-kit for other recorded verdicts.

Avoid installing @chem-x/starter-kit@26.9.17-1437. 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: 2026-10-12 05:55:58.163Z (UTC).

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

AI Security Review

Decision evidence

Source & flagged code

Source & flagged code

Findings

Affected versions and remediation

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Behavioral surface

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Source & flagged code