registry / AI-agent control-surface risk / chemx / 26.9.21-432

chemx@26.9.21-432

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

AI Security Review

scanned 11d ago · by lpm-firewall-ai

The automatic npm postinstall mutates consumer and global AI-agent configuration without a consent check, establishing an unconsented agent control-surface change. The source supports blocking under the install-time AI-agent control-hijack policy.

Static reason

High-risk behavior combination matched malicious policy.

Trigger

Installing chemx through npm runs its postinstall hook.

Impact

Agent applications may discover and launch the configured MCP server after package installation.

Mechanism

The hook targets the consumer directory, then writes MCP server settings for Cursor, VS Code, and Antigravity without a consent guard; the fallback server command invokes npx chemx mcp.

Policy narrative

On npm installation, chemx automatically writes its MCP server configuration into consumer agent settings, including project-level Cursor and VS Code files and an existing global Antigravity configuration directory. The configuration can invoke chemx through npx. This is an unconsented install-time change to AI-agent control surfaces.

AI rationale

Evidence

package.jsoncli/postinstall.jscli/mcp/installer.jscli/installer.js

Decision evidence

public snapshot

AI identified this as a dangerous AI-agent capability at 95.0% confidence with low false-positive risk.

Evidence for policy risk

package.json runs cli/postinstall.js automatically after installation.
The postinstall hook targets the consumer directory and calls installAllMcpConfigs without a consent check.
The installer writes MCP configuration into consumer .cursor and .vscode directories and the user's Antigravity configuration.
The configured MCP server can launch chemx through npx when a local package entry is unavailable.
The installer also adds Chemical X directives to AGENTS.md when invoked.

Evidence against

The pillars wizard writes agent guidance only when explicitly run with selected pillars.
The package self-dependency appears in devDependencies, not runtime dependencies.

Behavioral surface

Source

ChildProcessEnvironmentVarsFilesystemNetworkShell

Supply chain

HighEntropyStringsUrlStrings

ManifestNo manifest risk signals triggered.

scanned 237 file(s), 1.31 MB of source, external domains: api.github.com, chemicalx.xophz.com, example.com, fallback.com, github.com, img.shields.io, mycompassconsulting.com, reports.chemicalx.xophz.com, www.w3.org

Source & flagged code

10 flagged

package.jsonView file

Lines 29-69json

29 "docs",

30 "assets"

31 ],

32 "exports": {

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

41 },

42 "scripts": {

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

44 "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",

45 "check:frameworks": "node scripts/check-framework-generation.mjs",

46 "prepublishOnly": "node scripts/check-framework-generation.mjs",

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": "26.9.20-408",

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/build/executor.jsView file

Lines 1-31javascript

1import { spawn } from 'node:child_process';

3export const executeBuild = (command, cwd = process.cwd(), options = {})

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';

4import { syncAntigravityMcpSchemas } from './antigravity.js';

cli/pillars-wizard.jsView file

•Manifest-trigger-reachable source links an external AI-agent control path to a behavior-bearing write operation. st pick = usegum ? gumchoose(choices, 'select architectural pillars configuration') : await promptquestion('select pillars: [1=recommended, 2=strict, 3=custom, 4=minimal, 5=none] (default: 1): '); if (pick && (pick.startswith('2.') || pick === '2')) { selectedpresetkey = 'strict'; selectedpillarids = [...pillar_presets.strict.pillars]; } else if (pick && (pick.startswith('3.') || pick === '3')) { selectedpresetkey = 'custom'; for (const pillar of pillars) { const defaultchoice = pillar_presets.recommended.pillars.includes(pillar.id) ? 'y/n' : 'y/n'; const isdefaultyes = defaultchoice === 'y/n'; const answer = a

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/pillars-wizard.jsView on unpkg

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

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/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 Critical5 High5 Medium5 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/build/executor.js

HighSame File Env Network Executioncli/license.js

HighTrigger Reachable External Ai Agent Control Surface Mutationcli/pillars-wizard.js

MediumAmbiguous Install Lifecycle Scriptpackage.json

MediumNetwork

MediumEnvironment Vars

MediumShips Build Helperscripts/pre-commit.sh

Affected versions and remediation

This report applies to chemx@26.9.21-432.

See all versions of chemx for other recorded verdicts.

Avoid installing chemx@26.9.21-432. 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 07:02:29.058Z (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

Other AI-agent control-surface risk packages

Behavioral surface

Related packages

Other AI-agent control-surface risk packages

Source & flagged code