registry / AI-agent control-surface risk / @chemx/create-chemx / 26.9.16-1249

@chemx/create-chemx@26.9.16-1249

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

AI Security Review

scanned 11d ago · by lpm-firewall-ai

Source confirms an unconsented postinstall mutation of project and potentially global AI-agent configuration. This meets the lifecycle control-hijack block criterion.

Static reason

High-risk behavior combination matched malicious policy.; previous stored version diff introduced dangerous source; source closely matched a different package identity

Trigger

Installing the package through npm, which runs its postinstall lifecycle script.

Impact

AI-agent clients may load and run the newly registered MCP server, including a command that can resolve through npx.

Mechanism

The lifecycle invokes the MCP installer, which writes Cursor and VS Code project configs and, when the relevant directory exists, a global Antigravity config. No consent guard is present in this path.

Policy narrative

The postinstall script calls the MCP installer for the consuming project without prompting. The installer writes server configuration for Cursor and VS Code and may register the server in the user’s Antigravity config. This creates an AI-agent control surface as an installation side effect.

AI rationale

Source confirms an unconsented postinstall mutation of project and potentially global AI-agent configuration. This meets the lifecycle control-hijack block criterion.

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 97.0% confidence with low false-positive risk.

Evidence for policy risk

The package manifest runs a postinstall script during installation.
The lifecycle script invokes MCP configuration installation for the consumer directory without a consent check.
The installer writes MCP configuration under the consumer project’s Cursor and VS Code directories.
When Antigravity’s configuration directory exists, the installer also writes a global MCP configuration there.
The configured MCP server may invoke the chemx command through npx.

Evidence against

Behavioral surface

Source

ChildProcessEnvironmentVarsFilesystemNetworkShell

Supply chain

HighEntropyStringsUrlStrings

ManifestNo manifest risk signals triggered.

scanned 92 file(s), 596 KB of source, external domains: api.github.com, chemicalx.xophz.com, github.com, img.shields.io, mycompassconsulting.com, www.w3.org

Source & flagged code

10 flagged

package.jsonView file

Lines 31-70json

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

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

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

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

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

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

37 "./patcher": "./cli/patcher.js"

38 },

39 "scripts": {

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

41 "test": "node --test cli/audit/*.spec.js cli/mcp/*.spec.js cli/*.spec.js",

42 "typecheck": "tsc --noEmit",

43 "create-capsule": "node cli/index.js",

44 "audit": "node cli/index.js audit",

45 "ci:audit": "node cli/index.js audit --ci --dir=cli",

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

47 "q": "node cli/index.js q",

48 "search": "node cli/index.js search",

49 "mcp": "node cli/index.js mcp",

50 "install-mcp": "node cli/index.js install-mcp",

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

High

Install Time Lifecycle Scripts

Package defines install-time lifecycle scripts.

package.jsonView on unpkg · L51

Medium

Ambiguous Install Lifecycle Script

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

package.jsonView on unpkg · L51

52 "read": "node cli/index.js read",

53 "patch": "node cli/index.js patch"

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 "typescript": "^5.9.3"

68 }

69}

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

Lines 1-21javascript

1import fs from 'node:fs';

2import path from 'node:path';

3import os from 'node:os';

5const SERVER_KEY =

cli/scaffold.jsView file

•Manifest-trigger-reachable source links an external AI-agent control path to a behavior-bearing write operation. import fs from 'node:fs'; import path from 'node:path'; import { hasgum, guminput, promptquestion, renderbanner } from './terminal.js'; import { obtainlicensekey, fetchstarterkitfiles, loadlocalblueprintfiles } from './license.js'; export const runscaffold = async (projectname, rawargs = [], onrunaudit = null) => { renderbanner('chemical x: molecular architecture scaffolder (npm create chemx)'); const licensekey = await obtainlicensekey(rawargs, onrunaudit); let iscommunity = false; let files = {}; 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

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.

cli/scaffold.jsView on unpkg

scripts/pre-commit.shView file

•matchType = previous_version_dangerous_delta matchedPackage = @chemx/create-chemx@26.9.14-1358 matchedIdentity = npm:QGNoZW14L2NyZWF0ZS1jaGVteA:26.9.14-1358 similarity = 0.786 summary = stored previous version shares package body but lacks this dangerous source file

High

Previous Version Dangerous Delta

This package version adds a dangerous source file absent from the previous stored version; route for source-aware review.

scripts/pre-commit.shView on unpkg

•path = scripts/pre-commit.sh kind = build_helper sizeBytes = 4608 magicHex = [redacted]

Medium

Ships Build Helper

Package ships non-JavaScript build or shell helper files.

scripts/pre-commit.shView on unpkg

cli/audit/social-git.jsView file

•matchType = package_source_clone_identity_mismatch matchedPackage = create-chemx@26.9.14-1358 matchedPath = cli/audit/ai-slop-detector.js matchedIdentity = npm:Y3JlYXRlLWNoZW14:26.9.14-1358 similarity = 0.671 shingleOverlap = 47 summary = source files closely matched a different published package identity

High

Package Source Clone Identity Mismatch

Package source closely matches a different published package identity; review for dependency-confusion or copied-code abuse.

cli/audit/social-git.jsView on unpkg

Source & flagged code

10 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/audit-preflight-git.jsView file

1import fs from 'node:fs'; L2: import { spawnSync } from 'node:child_process'; L3:

High

Child Process

Package source references child process execution.

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

Findings

1 Critical7 High5 Medium4 Low

CriticalAi Agent Control Hijackcli/mcp/installer.js

HighInstall Time Lifecycle Scriptspackage.json

HighChild Processcli/audit-preflight-git.js

HighShellcli/terminal.js

HighSame File Env Network Executioncli/license.js

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

HighPrevious Version Dangerous Deltascripts/pre-commit.sh

HighPackage Source Clone Identity Mismatchcli/audit/social-git.js

MediumAmbiguous Install Lifecycle Scriptpackage.json

MediumNetwork

MediumEnvironment Vars

MediumShips Build Helperscripts/pre-commit.sh

Affected versions and remediation

This report applies to @chemx/create-chemx@26.9.16-1249.

See all versions of @chemx/create-chemx for other recorded verdicts.

Avoid installing @chemx/create-chemx@26.9.16-1249. 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 06:42:39.947Z (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

Related packages

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Behavioral surface

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Source & flagged code