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francois@0.17.23: Malicious npm security report (Block) | LPM Firewall

registry / francois / 0.17.23

francois@0.17.23

Mission control for your Claude Code fleet — installs the Francois desktop app without an installer.

AI Security Review

scanned 10d ago · by lpm-firewall-ai

Install-time code downloads and installs an unsigned native payload, then registers it with the user’s OS desktop integration. On macOS it additionally removes the quarantine attribute intended to protect downloaded software.

Static reason

One or more suspicious static signals were detected.; source matched previously finalized malicious package; routed for review; source fingerprint signature matched known malicious package; routed for review

Trigger

npm install (postinstall)

Impact

Installs an externally hosted executable while intentionally bypassing platform download protections.

Mechanism

remote native payload download, extraction, quarantine removal, and desktop registration

Attack narrative

The postinstall hook obtains a platform-native archive from a release host, verifies its bundled hash, unpacks it, and installs OS-visible launch integration. Its source and README explicitly frame this as avoiding SmartScreen, Gatekeeper, and macOS quarantine for an unsigned executable; on macOS it runs xattr to remove quarantine. The executable itself is not included for inspection, leaving native behavior outside the reviewed source.

Rationale

The package has a concrete install-time security-bypass chain for a remote native payload, not merely noisy static primitives. Hash pinning does not mitigate the intentional evasion of platform protections or make the opaque payload reviewable.

Evidence

package.jsoninstall.jslib/desktop.jsmanifest.jsonREADME.mdvendor/assets/icon.png~/Applications~/.local/share/applications/francois.desktop

Source & flagged code

11 flagged · loading source

package.jsonView file

•scripts.postinstall = node install.js

High

Install Time Lifecycle Scripts

Package defines install-time lifecycle scripts.

package.jsonView on unpkg

19scripts.postinstall = node install.js Install-time code downloads an unverified remote native archive, stages it locally, activates an executable path, and exposes it to process execution. L19: const fs = require('node:fs'); L20: const http = require('node:http'); L21: const https = require('node:https'); L22: const os = require('node:os'); L23: const path = require('node:path'); L24: const { spawnSync } = require('node:child_process'); L25: ... L45: L46: const DOWNLOAD_BASE = process.env.FRANCOIS_DOWNLOAD_BASE || 'https://github.com'; L47: const MAX_ATTEMPTS = 3; ... L60: * GitHub redirects release downloads to a CDN, so redirects must be followed. L61: * http is honoured alongside https only so that a self-hosted

High

Unverified Remote Native Payload Install

Install-time source downloads a native archive from a fixed external host without transport verification, extracts it, and installs an executable payload.

package.jsonView on unpkg · L19

•scripts.postinstall = node install.js

Medium

Ambiguous Install Lifecycle Script

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

package.jsonView on unpkg

bin/francois.jsView file

11L12: const { spawn, spawnSync } = require('node:child_process'); L13: const path = require('node:path');

High

Child Process

Package source references child process execution.

bin/francois.jsView on unpkg · L11

11L12: const { spawn, spawnSync } = require('node:child_process'); L13: const path = require('node:path'); ... L38: function die(message) { L39: process.stderr.write(`\nfrancois: ${message}\n\n`); L40: process.exit(1); ... L49: function warnIfWebView2Missing() { L50: if (process.platform !== 'win32') return; L51: const guid = '{F3017226-FE2A-4295-8BDF-00C3A9A7E4C5}'; ... L61: 'francois: the Microsoft Edge WebView2 runtime was not found — the window may fail to open.\n' + L62: ' Install it from https://developer.microsoft.com/microsoft-edge/webview2/\n', L63: );

High

Sandbox Evasion Gated Capability

Source gates dangerous network, credential, or execution behavior behind CI, host, platform, time, or geo fingerprint checks.

bin/francois.jsView on unpkg · L11

113const npmCmd = process.platform === 'win32' ? 'npm.cmd' : 'npm'; L114: const result = spawnSync(npmCmd, ['uninstall', '-g', pkg.name], { stdio: 'inherit' }); L115: process.exit(result.status === null ? 1 : result.status); ... L125: } L126: die('the app payload is missing — reinstall with `npm i -g francois`.'); L127: }

High

Runtime Package Install

Package source invokes a package manager install command at runtime.

bin/francois.jsView on unpkg · L113

install.js#virtual:normalized:round1View file

114} catch { L115: run("powershell", [ L116: "-NoProfile", ... L122: } else { L123: // System tar on macOS/Linux preserves the bundle"s symlinks and exec bits.\n run("tar", ["-xzf", archive, "-C", dest]);\n }\n}\n\nasync function main() {\n if (process.env.FR... L124: // — which skips finally blocks — still clears the staging directory.

High

Same File Env Network Execution

A single source file combines environment access, network access, and code or shell execution; review context before blocking.

install.js#virtual:normalized:round1View on unpkg · L114

install.jsView file

•matchType = normalized_sha256 matchedPackage = francois@0.17.12 matchedPath = install.js matchedIdentity = npm:ZnJhbmNvaXM:0.17.12 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.

install.jsView on unpkg

lib/desktop.jsView file

•matchType = normalized_sha256 matchedPackage = francois@0.17.12 matchedPath = lib/desktop.js matchedIdentity = npm:ZnJhbmNvaXM:0.17.12 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.

lib/desktop.jsView on unpkg

Source & flagged code

11 flagged

package.jsonView file

Lines 1-46json

1{

2 "name": "francois",

3 "version": "0.17.23",

4 "description": "Mission control for your Claude Code fleet — installs the Francois desktop app without an installer.",

5 "license": "AGPL-3.0-only",

6 "author": "Antoine Gimenez",

7 "homepage": "https://github.com/antoine-gmnz/francois#readme",

8 "repository": {

9 "type": "git",

10 "url": "git+https://github.com/antoine-gmnz/francois.git",

11 "directory": "packaging/npm"

12 },

13 "bugs": "https://github.com/antoine-gmnz/francois/issues",

14 "keywords": [

15 "claude",

16 "claude-code",

17 "anthropic",

18 "terminal",

19 "tauri",

20 "desktop"

21 ],

22 "bin": {

23 "francois": "bin/francois.js"

24 },

25 "scripts": {

26 "postinstall": "node install.js",

High

Install Time Lifecycle Scripts

Package defines install-time lifecycle scripts.

package.jsonView on unpkg · L26

Medium

Ambiguous Install Lifecycle Script

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

package.jsonView on unpkg · L26

27 "preuninstall": "node uninstall.js"

28 },

29 "files": [

30 "assets/icon.png",

31 "bin/",

32 "lib/desktop.js",

33 "lib/platform.js",

34 "install.js",

35 "uninstall.js",

36 "manifest.json",

37 "README.md"

38 ],

39 "engines": {

40 "node": ">=18"

41 },

42 "os": [

43 "darwin",

44 "win32",

45 "linux"

46 ]

High

Unverified Remote Native Payload Install

Install-time source downloads a native archive from a fixed external host without transport verification, extracts it, and installs an executable payload.

package.jsonView on unpkg · L19

bin/francois.jsView file

Lines 1-31javascript

1#!/usr/bin/env node

2'use strict';

3

4/**

5 * `francois` — launch the desktop app that install.js unpacked into vendor/.

6 *

7 * Unrecognised arguments are forwarded to the app binary, so this stays

8 * forward-compatible with the read-only CLI companion (specs/cli-companion.md)

9 * once that ships.

10 */

11

12

install.js#virtual:normalized:round1View file

114} catch { L115: run("powershell", [ L116: "-NoProfile", ... L122: } else { L123: // System tar on macOS/Linux preserves the bundle"s symlinks and exec bits.\n run("tar", ["-xzf", archive, "-C", dest]);\n }\n}\n\nasync function main() {\n if (process.env.FR... L124: // — which skips finally blocks — still clears the staging directory.

High

Same File Env Network Execution

A single source file combines environment access, network access, and code or shell execution; review context before blocking.

install.js#virtual:normalized:round1View on unpkg · L114

install.jsView file

•matchType = normalized_sha256 matchedPackage = francois@0.17.12 matchedPath = install.js matchedIdentity = npm:ZnJhbmNvaXM:0.17.12 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.

install.jsView on unpkg

lib/desktop.jsView file

•matchType = normalized_sha256 matchedPackage = francois@0.17.12 matchedPath = lib/desktop.js matchedIdentity = npm:ZnJhbmNvaXM:0.17.12 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.

lib/desktop.jsView on unpkg