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@kingingwang/grok@1.0.13-cb435304: AI-agent control-surface risk | LPM Firewall

registry / @kingingwang/grok / 1.0.13-cb435304

@kingingwang/grok@1.0.13-cb435304

Bring Grok into your terminal

AI Security Review

scanned 3h ago · by lpm-firewall-ai

LPM flags this version as an AI-agent control-surface risk. Installing the package automatically replaces the canonical executable under the user's .grok directory with a decompressed binary from a kingingwang platform package. It also changes that directory's configuration and removes older matching binaries.

Static reason

One or more suspicious static signals were detected.; source matched previously finalized malicious package; routed for review; previous stored version diff introduced dangerous source

Trigger

npm installation runs postinstall.

Impact

A typosquatted package can take control of the executable and configuration used by an existing Grok installation.

Mechanism

Install-time binary drop and shared Grok-home overwrite.

Policy narrative

The manifest runs postinstall automatically. That script decompresses a binary supplied by a kingingwang platform dependency into ~/.grok/bin, replaces the canonical grok executable, edits ~/.grok/config.toml, and removes older grok binaries. The package nevertheless advertises and attempts to resolve xai-official Grok packages, indicating a brand-impersonation path that can hijack the shared Grok control surface with an opaque executable.

Rationale

This is a typosquatted Grok package whose automatic installer overwrites the shared Grok executable and configuration with an uninspectable binary from a different publisher namespace. The package has no direct JavaScript exfiltration, but the concrete install-time control-surface takeover warrants blocking.

Evidence

package.jsonbin/postinstall.jsbin/grok-bootstrap.jsREADME.md~/.grok/bin/grok~/.grok/bin/grok-<version>~/.grok/config.toml

Source & flagged code

9 flagged · loading source

package.jsonView file

•scripts.postinstall = node bin/postinstall.js

High

Install Time Lifecycle Scripts

Package defines install-time lifecycle scripts.

package.jsonView on unpkg

•stage = ast_semantic_analysis; reason = ast_parse_error; limitedFiles = 1

High

Semantic Analysis Limited

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

package.jsonView on unpkg

21"scripts": { "postinstall": "node bin/postinstall.js" },

High

Suspicious Lifecycle Evidence

The package uses an automatic postinstall hook.

package.jsonView on unpkg · L21

•scripts.postinstall = node bin/postinstall.js

Medium

Ambiguous Install Lifecycle Script

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

package.jsonView on unpkg

bin/grok-bootstrap.jsView file

•matchType = normalized_sha256 matchedPackage = @kingingwang/grok@1.0.6-97098a6 matchedPath = bin/grok matchedIdentity = npm:QGtpbmdpbmd3YW5nL2dyb2s:1.0.6-97098a6 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.

bin/grok-bootstrap.jsView on unpkg

bin/postinstall.jsView file

•matchType = previous_version_dangerous_delta matchedPackage = @kingingwang/grok@1.0.12-8d051d60 matchedIdentity = npm:QGtpbmdpbmd3YW5nL2dyb2s:1.0.12-8d051d60 similarity = 0.500 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.

bin/postinstall.jsView on unpkg

19// $GROK_HOME (else ~/.grok), matching the Rust grok_home(): a symlinked // $HOME resolves the same way. Lets fleets relocate the binary off a slow $HOME // (NFS); old code hardcoded os.homedir(). function defaultGrokHome() { const home = os.homedir(); try { return path.join(fs.realpathSync(home), '.grok'); } catch { return path.join(home, '.grok'); } } const GROK_HOME = process.env.GROK_HOME ?? defaultGrokHome(); const CANONICAL_DIR = path.join(GROK_HOME, 'bin');

High

Suspicious Lifecycle Evidence

Postinstall extracts an opaque platform binary into the user's .grok directory and makes it the canonical grok executable.

bin/postinstall.jsView on unpkg · L19

68function writeVendorBinary(brotliPath, binaryPath, destPath) { const tmp = destPath + `.tmp.${process.pid}`; try { if (fs.existsSync(brotliPath)) { fs.writeFileSync(tmp, zlib.brotliDecompressSync(fs.readFileSync(brotliPath))); } else if (fs.existsSync(binaryPath)) { fs.copyFileSync(binaryPath, tmp); } else { return false; } if (!IS_WINDOWS) fs.chmodSync(tmp, 0o755); fs.renameSync(tmp, destPath); return true;

Source & flagged code

9 flagged

package.jsonView file

Lines 1-42json

1{

2 "name": "@kingingwang/grok",

3 "version": "1.0.13-cb435304",

4 "description": "Bring Grok into your terminal",

5 "license": "Apache-2.0",

6 "bin": {

7 "grok": "bin/grok"

8 },

9 "files": [

10 "bin/"

11 ],

12 "os": [

13 "darwin",

14 "linux",

15 "win32"

16 ],

17 "cpu": [

18 "arm64",

19 "x64"

20 ],

21 "scripts": {

22 "postinstall": "node bin/postinstall.js"

High

Install Time Lifecycle Scripts

Package defines install-time lifecycle scripts.

package.jsonView on unpkg · L22

Medium

Ambiguous Install Lifecycle Script

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

package.jsonView on unpkg · L22

23 },

High

Suspicious Lifecycle Evidence

The package uses an automatic postinstall hook.

package.jsonView on unpkg · L21

24 "publishConfig": {

25 "access": "public"

26 },

27 "engines": {

28 "node": ">=20"

29 },

30 "dependencies": {

31 "@iarna/toml": "^3.0.0"

32 },

33 "optionalDependencies": {

34 "@kingingwang/grok-darwin-arm64": "1.0.13-cb435304",

35 "@kingingwang/grok-darwin-x64": "1.0.13-cb435304",

36 "@kingingwang/grok-linux-arm64": "1.0.13-cb435304",

37 "@kingingwang/grok-linux-x64": "1.0.13-cb435304",

38 "@kingingwang/grok-win32-arm64": "1.0.13-cb435304",

39 "@kingingwang/grok-win32-x64": "1.0.13-cb435304"

40 }

41}

42

•stage = ast_semantic_analysis; reason = ast_parse_error; limitedFiles = 1

High

Semantic Analysis Limited

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

package.jsonView on unpkg

bin/grok-bootstrap.jsView file

•matchType = normalized_sha256 matchedPackage = @kingingwang/grok@1.0.6-97098a6 matchedPath = bin/grok matchedIdentity = npm:QGtpbmdpbmd3YW5nL2dyb2s:1.0.6-97098a6 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.

bin/grok-bootstrap.jsView on unpkg

bin/postinstall.jsView file

Lines 1-39javascript

1#!/usr/bin/env node

2// Runs once after npm install/update. Reads the grok binary from the

3// matching per-platform optional dependency (@kingingwang/grok-<platform>)

4// and installs it to ~/.grok/bin/ using versioned filenames:

5//

6// Unix: grok-<version> + grok (symlink)

7// Windows: grok-<version>.exe + grok.exe (copy)

8//

9// Versioned files ensure running processes are never disrupted on macOS

10// (replacing a binary that a running process has mmap'd causes SIGKILL