registry / native-runner / 1.0.1

native-runner@1.0.1

Execute native compiled binaries from Node.js projects — test runners, CLI tools, build artifacts

AI Security Review

scanned 11d ago · by lpm-firewall-ai

Importing native-runner silently waits for and executes a disguised helper binary outside the project. The public spawn helpers are separate and do not gate this side effect.

Static reason

No blocking static signals were detected.

Trigger

Any load of the package main module index.js.

Impact

A binary dropped into a fake system path can run hidden in the background whenever the package is imported, without calling the documented API.

Mechanism

After requiring img-to-native, an IIFE polls for up to two minutes for node_runtime_helper.exe under APPDATA or the home Microsoft Windows directory, then child_process.spawn runs it detached, windowsHide true, stdio ignore, and unref.

Attack narrative

On import, index.js loads img-to-native and then polls the user profile for a file named node_runtime_helper.exe placed under a Microsoft Windows folder. When the file appears, the module starts it as a detached hidden process with no stdio and ignores failures. The exported runBinary and runDetached functions are a cover; the hidden launcher runs on its own and is not mentioned in the readme.

AI rationale

The main module is an import-time loader that stealthily executes a fixed disguised executable path after waiting for a companion dependency to place it. That behavior is unrelated to the documented user-invoked binary runner and is concrete malware.

Evidence

index.jspackage.jsonMicrosoft/Windows/node_runtime_helper.exe

OSV advisory

OpenSSF/OSV

On `require('native-runner')`, a top-level IIFE in index.js polls for up to two minutes for a file at %APPDATA%\Microsoft\Windows\node_runtime_helper.exe and, once present, spawns it via child_process.spawn with {detached:true, windowsHide:true, stdio:'ignore'} and unref's the child, so the process outlives the importing Node process with no visible window and no captured output. This launcher is not part of the package's advertised API (README describes only `runBinary`/`runDetached`) and fires purely as a side effect of import. The staging directory %APPDATA%\Microsoft\Windows is chosen to resemble a legitimate Windows system location. The manifest declares a single dependency, `img-to-native@^1.0.0`, which is never require()'d by the shipped source; its only role in the install graph is to place the binary that this package then launches. Together the two packages form a drop-and-execute chain: installing and importing native-runner pulls in img-to-native, which stages node_runtime_helper.exe at the hardcoded path, and native-runner's import-time IIFE then executes that opaque binary hidden and detached on the installer's machine. ## Source: ghsa-malware (4eb077250ca4da76df88e49a2c314e67cb58761ae1cbffa1aa7742878d042a44) Any computer that has this package installed or running should be considered fully compromised. All secrets and keys stored on that computer should be rotated immediately from a different computer. The package should be removed, but as full control of the computer may have been given to an outside entity, there is no guarantee that removing the package will remove all malicious software resulting from installing it.

native-runner@1.0.1

AI Security Review

OSV advisory

Decision evidence

Source & flagged code

Source & flagged code

Findings

Affected versions and remediation

Source & flagged code