registry / Remote code execution / nx / 23.2.0

nx@23.2.0

The core Nx plugin contains the core functionality of Nx like the project graph, nx commands and task orchestration.

AI Security Review

scanned 1mo ago · by lpm-firewall-ai

The inspected source establishes a concrete install-time remote code execution and unsafe archive extraction risk. It is feature-aligned Nx Cloud behavior, so static inspection supports a warning for a critical vulnerability rather than a finding of malicious intent.

Static reason

One or more suspicious static signals were detected.; previous stored version diff introduced dangerous source

Trigger

Installing the package in an Nx workspace with Nx Cloud enabled.

Impact

A compromised or redirected cloud response could execute code during installation; crafted archive paths could write outside the client cache.

Mechanism

Automatic remote bundle download, extraction, and dynamic loading.

AI rationale

Evidence

package.jsondist/bin/post-install.jsdist/src/nx-cloud/update-manager.jsnx.json.nx/cache/cloud/<version>node_modules/.cache/nx/cloud/<version>

Network endpoints1

cloud.nx.app

Decision evidence

public snapshot

AI called this Suspicious at 94.0% confidence as Critical Vulnerability with low false-positive risk.

Evidence for warning

The postinstall hook automatically loads the package installer.
When Nx Cloud is configured, postinstall verifies or updates a cloud client.
The updater accepts a server-supplied download URL and loads the downloaded bundle.
Archive entries are written using their supplied names without path validation.

Evidence against

The lifecycle path is gated on an Nx workspace and Nx Cloud configuration.
The default service endpoint is the package-aligned Nx Cloud host.
No credential harvesting or unrelated data exfiltration was found in the inspected path.

Behavioral surface

Source

ChildProcessCryptoDynamicRequireEnvironmentVarsEvalFilesystemNativeBindingsNetworkShell

Supply chain

HighEntropyStringsMinifiedUrlStrings

ManifestNo manifest risk signals triggered.

Source & flagged code

14 flagged

package.jsonView file

Lines 525-547json

525 "types": "./dist/release/*.d.ts",

526 "default": "./dist/release/*.js"

527 },

528 "./release/*.js": {

529 "@nx/nx-source": "./release/*.ts",

530 "types": "./dist/release/*.d.ts",

531 "default": "./dist/release/*.js"

532 },

533 "./tasks-runners/*": {

534 "@nx/nx-source": "./tasks-runners/*.ts",

535 "types": "./dist/tasks-runners/*.d.ts",

536 "default": "./dist/tasks-runners/*.js"

537 },

538 "./tasks-runners/*.js": {

539 "@nx/nx-source": "./tasks-runners/*.ts",

540 "types": "./dist/tasks-runners/*.d.ts",

541 "default": "./dist/tasks-runners/*.js"

542 }

543 },

544 "scripts": {

545 "postinstall": "node -e \"try{require('./dist/bin/post-install')}catch(e){}\""

High

Install Time Lifecycle Scripts

Package defines install-time lifecycle scripts.

package.jsonView on unpkg · L545

Medium

Ambiguous Install Lifecycle Script

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

package.jsonView on unpkg · L545

546 }

547}

dist/bin/nx.jsView file

Lines 1-39javascript

1#!/usr/bin/env node

2"use strict";

3// TODO: Remove this workaround once picocolors handles FORCE_COLOR=0 correctly

4// See: https://github.com/alexeyraspopov/picocolors/issues/100

5Object.defineProperty(exports, "__esModule", { value: true });

6const tslib_1 = require

dist/src/utils/git-utils.index-filter.jsView file

Lines 1-24javascript

1"use strict";

2Object.defineProperty(exports, "__esModule", { value: true });

3/**

4 * This is meant to be used with `git filter-branch --index-filter` to rewrite

5 * history such that only commits related to the subdirectory is kept.

6 *

7 * Example:

dist/src/core/graph/runtime.jsView file

Lines 1-1javascript

1(()=>{"use strict";var e,r={},t={};function n(e){var o=t[e];if(void 0!==o)return

dist/bin/nx-cloud.jsView file

Lines 1-24javascript

1#!/usr/bin/env node

2"use strict";

3Object.defineProperty(exports, "__esModule", { value: true });

4exports.invokeCommandWithNxCloudClient = invokeCommandWithNxCloudClient;

5const get_cloud_options_1 =

dist/src/utils/git-utils.jsView file

Lines 4-44javascript

4exports.cloneFromUpstream = cloneFromUpstream;

5exports.parseVcsRemoteUrl = parseVcsRemoteUrl;

6exports.locateGitDir = locateGitDir;

7exports.getVcsRemoteInfo = getVcsRemoteInfo;

8exports.getGitRootPath = getGitRootPath;

dist/src/command-line/completion/scripts.jsView file

Lines 1-27javascript

1"use strict";

2Object.defineProperty(exports, "__esModule", { value: true });

3exports.SHELLS = void 0;

4exports.printCompletionScript =

dist/src/utils/ab-testing.jsView file

116catch (e) { L117: if (process.env.NX_VERBOSE_LOGGING === 'true') { L118: console.error(e); ... L125: // Fallback on true as Package management doesn't support reading config for registry. L126: // currently Bun doesn't support fetching config settings https://github.com/oven-sh/bun/issues/7140 L127: return true; ... L129: try { L130: const stdout = (0, node_child_process_1.execSync)(pmc.getRegistryUrl, { L131: encoding: 'utf-8',

High

Same File Env Network Execution

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

dist/src/utils/ab-testing.jsView on unpkg · L116

dist/src/command-line/init/init-v1.jsView file

3exports.initHandler = initHandler; L4: const child_process_1 = require("child_process"); L5: const prompt_helpers_1 = require("../../utils/prompt-helpers"); ... L20: const args = process.argv.slice(3).join(' '); L21: const version = process.env.NX_VERSION ?? ((0, semver_1.prerelease)(versions_1.nxVersion) ? versions_1.nxVersion : 'latest'); L22: if (process.env.NX_VERSION) { ... L26: setupDotNxInstallation(version); L27: await (0, format_1.formatInitWrites)(process.cwd()); L28: } L29: else if ((0, fs_1.existsSync)('package.json')) { L30: const packageJson = (0, fileutils_1.readJsonFile)('package.json'); ... L34: (0, utils_1.printFinalMessage)({

High

Sandbox Evasion Gated Capability

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

dist/src/command-line/init/init-v1.jsView on unpkg · L3

dist/src/native/nx.wasm32-wasi.wasmView file

•path = dist/src/native/nx.wasm32-wasi.wasm kind = wasm_module sizeBytes = 4061190 magicHex = [redacted]

Medium

Ships Wasm Module

Package ships WebAssembly modules.

dist/src/native/nx.wasm32-wasi.wasmView on unpkg

dist/src/command-line/completion/scripts/fish.fishView file

•path = dist/src/command-line/completion/scripts/fish.fish kind = build_helper sizeBytes = 1538 magicHex = [redacted]

Medium

Ships Build Helper

Package ships non-JavaScript build or shell helper files.

dist/src/command-line/completion/scripts/fish.fishView on unpkg

dist/src/adapter/ngcli-adapter.js#virtual:normalized:round1View file

•stage = ast_semantic_analysis; reason = ast_parse_error; limitedFiles = 18

High

Semantic Analysis Limited

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

dist/src/adapter/ngcli-adapter.js#virtual:normalized:round1View on unpkg

dist/src/utils/package-json.jsView file

•matchType = previous_version_dangerous_delta matchedPackage = nx@23.2.1 matchedIdentity = npm:bng:23.2.1 similarity = 0.942 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/src/utils/package-json.jsView on unpkg

Source & flagged code

14 flagged · loading source

package.jsonView file

•scripts.postinstall = node -e "try{require('./dist/bin/post-install')}catch(e){}"

High

Install Time Lifecycle Scripts

Package defines install-time lifecycle scripts.

package.jsonView on unpkg

•scripts.postinstall = node -e "try{require('./dist/bin/post-install')}catch(e){}"

Medium

Ambiguous Install Lifecycle Script

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

package.jsonView on unpkg

dist/bin/nx.jsView file

19const strip_indents_1 = require("../src/utils/strip-indents"); L20: const child_process_1 = require("child_process"); L21: const module_1 = require("module");

High

Child Process

Package source references child process execution.

dist/bin/nx.jsView on unpkg · L19

Findings

7 High8 Medium6 Low

HighInstall Time Lifecycle Scriptspackage.json

HighChild Processdist/bin/nx.js

HighShelldist/src/utils/git-utils.index-filter.js

HighSame File Env Network Executiondist/src/utils/ab-testing.js

HighSandbox Evasion Gated Capabilitydist/src/command-line/init/init-v1.js

HighSemantic Analysis Limiteddist/src/adapter/ngcli-adapter.js#virtual:normalized:round1

HighPrevious Version Dangerous Deltadist/src/utils/package-json.js

MediumAmbiguous Install Lifecycle Scriptpackage.json

MediumDynamic Requiredist/bin/nx-cloud.js

MediumNetwork

MediumEnvironment Vars

MediumInstall Persistencedist/src/command-line/completion/scripts.js

Affected versions and remediation

This report applies to nx@23.2.0.

See all versions of nx for other recorded verdicts.

Review the evidence and your use of nx@23.2.0 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: 2026-09-13 22:39:35.949Z (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