hippo-memory@1.38.10

Biologically-inspired memory system for AI agents. Decay by default, strength through use.

AI Security Review

scanned 2mo ago · by lpm-firewall-ai

The source does not establish payload theft, remote execution, or an unconsented first-install wrapper takeover. It does establish a guarded automatic lifecycle mutation of a foreign AI-agent launcher and reviewer-directed scanner language.

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 postinstall runs while Hippo Codex wrapper metadata already exists.

Impact

The Codex launcher can be renamed and replaced, causing later Codex invocations to run through Hippo.

Mechanism

Conditional repair of a wrapper around the Codex executable.

AI rationale

Evidence

package.jsonscripts/postinstall.cjsdist/postinstall.jsdist/hooks.js~/.hippo/integrations/codex.json~/.hippo/bin/codex~/.codex/history.jsonl~/.codex/sessions

Decision evidence

public snapshot

AI called this Suspicious at 84.0% confidence as Unknown with medium false-positive risk.

Evidence for warning

The postinstall hook automatically loads package code that can repair an existing Codex launcher wrapper.
The repair path can rename the detected Codex executable and replace it with a Hippo wrapper when prior Hippo metadata is present.
Package comments explicitly discuss how the behavior appears to security scanners, which is reviewer-directed text.
Configured embedding providers send supplied text and the selected provider key to OpenAI, Voyage, or Cohere.

Evidence against

A first install does not create the Codex wrapper unless Hippo metadata already exists.
The initial Codex wrapper installation is only reached through the explicit `hippo hook install codex` command.
No self-dependency or opaque payload download was present in package.json.
The dynamic import only loads optional local transformer packages.

Behavioral surface

Source

ChildProcessCryptoDynamicRequireEnvironmentVarsEvalFilesystemNetwork

Source & flagged code

9 flagged

package.jsonView file

Lines 15-55json

15 "bin": {

16 "hippo": "bin/hippo.js"

17 },

18 "files": [

19 "dist",

20 "dist-ui",

21 "bin",

22 "scripts/postinstall.cjs",

23 "openclaw.plugin.json",

24 "extensions/openclaw-plugin"

25 ],

26 "scripts": {

27 "baseline": "npm run build && npm test",

28 "build": "tsc && tsc -p tsconfig.benchmarks.json && tsc -p tsconfig.extensions.json",

29 "dev": "tsc --watch",

30 "pretest": "npm run build",

31 "test": "vitest run",

32 "test:watch": "vitest",

33 "lint": "oxlint",

34 "audit:security": "npm audit --audit-level=high && npm --prefix ui audit --audit-level=high",

35 "postinstall": "node scripts/postinstall.cjs",

High

Install Time Lifecycle Scripts

Package defines install-time lifecycle scripts.

package.jsonView on unpkg · L35

Medium

Ambiguous Install Lifecycle Script

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

package.jsonView on unpkg · L35

36 "smoke:pack": "node scripts/smoke-pack.mjs",

37 "smoke:openclaw-install": "node scripts/smoke-openclaw-install.mjs",

38 "build:ui": "cd ui && npm install && npm run build",

39 "build:all": "npm run build && npm run build:ui",

40 "prepublishOnly": "node scripts/check-manifest-versions.mjs && node scripts/check-em-dashes-in-release-notes.mjs && node scripts/check-graph-writes.mjs && npm run build:all && node scripts/check-openclaw-dist.mjs && npm run smoke:openclaw-install && node scripts/check-tests-pass.mjs"

41 },

42 "keywords": [

43 "memory",

44 "ai",

45 "agents",

46 "llm",

47 "claude",

48 "context",

49 "recall",

50 "episodic",

51 "semantic",

52 "embeddings",

53 "hybrid-search"

54 ],

55 "author": "Keith",

dist/rerankers/cross-encoder.jsView file

Lines 1-29javascript

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

2const MODEL_NAME = 'Xenova/ms-marco-MiniLM-L-6-v2';

3// Use Function constructor to bypass TypeScript static module resolution

4// for optional peer dependencies that may not be installed (mirrors the

5// pattern in src/embeddings.ts).

6// SAFETY: this declares the contract we require from the dynamically

dist/hooks.jsView file

•Manifest-trigger-reachable source links an external AI-agent control path to a behavior-bearing write operation. } } } return out; } function [redacted](historypath, startoffsetbytes) { if (!fs.existssync(historypath)) return []; const raw = fs.readfilesync(historypath); if (startoffsetbytes >= raw.length) return []; const delta = raw.subarray(startoffsetbytes).tostring('utf8'); const seen = new set(); const ordered = []; for (const line of delta.split('\n')) { if (!line.trim()) continue; try { const parsed = json.parse(line); const sessionid = parsed.session_id; if (isjsonstring(sessionid) && sessionid && !seen.has(sessionid)) { seen.add(sessionid);

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.

dist/hooks.jsView on unpkg

dist/embedding-provider.js#virtual:normalized:round1View file

•stage = ast_semantic_analysis; reason = ast_parse_error; limitedFiles = 9

High

Semantic Analysis Limited

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

dist/embedding-provider.js#virtual:normalized:round1View on unpkg

dist/predictions.jsView file

•matchType = normalized_sha256 matchedPackage = hippo-memory@1.24.0 matchedPath = dist/predictions.js matchedIdentity = npm:aGlwcG8tbWVtb3J5:1.24.0 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/predictions.jsView on unpkg

dist/src/predictions.jsView file

High

Known Malware Source Similarity

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

dist/src/predictions.jsView on unpkg

dist/cli.jsView file

•matchType = previous_version_dangerous_delta matchedPackage = hippo-memory@1.38.9 matchedIdentity = npm:aGlwcG8tbWVtb3J5:1.38.9 similarity = 0.867 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.

dist/cli.jsView on unpkg

Source & flagged code

9 flagged · loading source

package.jsonView file

•scripts.postinstall = node scripts/postinstall.cjs

High

Install Time Lifecycle Scripts

Package defines install-time lifecycle scripts.

package.jsonView on unpkg

•scripts.postinstall = node scripts/postinstall.cjs

Medium

Ambiguous Install Lifecycle Script

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

package.jsonView on unpkg

dist/rerankers/cross-encoder.jsView file

9// isPipelineFactory before it is ever invoked. L10: const _dynImport = new Function('s', 'return import(s)'); L11: const _require = createRequire(import.meta.url);

Medium

Dynamic Require

Package source references dynamic require/import behavior.

dist/rerankers/cross-encoder.jsView on unpkg · L9

Findings

6 High5 Medium6 Low

HighInstall Time Lifecycle Scriptspackage.json

HighTrigger Reachable External Ai Agent Control Surface Mutationdist/hooks.js

HighSemantic Analysis Limiteddist/embedding-provider.js#virtual:normalized:round1

HighKnown Malware Source Similaritydist/predictions.js

HighKnown Malware Source Similaritydist/src/predictions.js

HighPrevious Version Dangerous Deltadist/cli.js

MediumAmbiguous Install Lifecycle Scriptpackage.json

MediumDynamic Requiredist/rerankers/cross-encoder.js

MediumNetwork

MediumEnvironment Vars

MediumStructural Risk Force Deep Review

LowNon Install Lifecycle Scripts

Affected versions and remediation

This report applies to hippo-memory@1.38.10.

See all versions of hippo-memory for other recorded verdicts.

Review the evidence and your use of hippo-memory@1.38.10 before allowing it. Restrict the permissions described in this report.
Choose an independently verified alternative or release. This report does not establish that other versions are safe.

Evidence last updated: 2026-09-07 21:20:05.924Z (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

Runtime surface

Behavioral surface

Source & flagged code