registry / AI-agent capability abuse / pennyrouter / 0.3.58

pennyrouter@0.3.58

Install and manage PennyRouter local coding-agent integrations.

AI Security Review

scanned 11d ago · by lpm-firewall-ai

The inspected source supports a warning for explicit user-command changes to agent configuration, but does not show unconsented install-time mutation or a concrete attack. Classify as suspicious capability risk rather than malicious behavior.

Static reason

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

Trigger

A user runs PennyRouter installation or MCP registration commands.

Impact

The agent can later invoke PennyRouter's status-line and MCP integration through the changed configuration.

Mechanism

Setup writes a status-line command into Claude Code settings and registers PennyRouter's MCP server in supported agent configuration.

AI rationale

Evidence

src/statusline.jssrc/launch.jssrc/mcp-register.jssrc/cli.js~/.claude/settings.json~/.claude.json~/.codex/config.toml

Decision evidence

public snapshot

AI called this Suspicious at 88.0% confidence as Dangerous Capability with medium false-positive risk.

Evidence for warning

The manifest exposes a command-line entry point and lists no npm lifecycle hooks.
Launcher setup changes Claude Code's status line and persists the updated settings.
The status-line setup preserves an existing user command by wrapping it.
The explicit MCP registration command writes PennyRouter's server registration for supported agents.
MCP registration is also offered during the install flow unless disabled.

Evidence against

Inspected source shows agent configuration changes within PennyRouter's launcher and MCP setup paths; it does not establish an install-time attack or credential theft.

Behavioral surface

Source

ChildProcessCryptoEnvironmentVarsFilesystemNetworkShellWebSocket

Supply chain

HighEntropyStringsUrlStrings

ManifestNo manifest risk signals triggered.

scanned 50 file(s), 512 KB of source, external domains: 127.0.0.1, api.pennyrouter.com, app.example, chatgpt.com, gateway.example, gateway.example.com, gateway.internal.example.com, gateway.invalid, gw.example, new.example, old.example, opencode.ai, openrouter.example.test, other.example, pennyrouter.com, private.example, private.example.test, proxy.example.com, www.perplexity.ai

Source & flagged code

7 flagged

src/launch.test.jsView file

Lines 1-21javascript

1import assert from "node:assert/strict";

2import { spawnSync } from "node:child_process";

3import fs from "node:fs";

Medium

Install Persistence

Source writes installer persistence such as shell profile or service configuration.

src/launch.test.jsView on unpkg · L1

4import os from "node:os";

5import path from "node:path";

7import {

8 buildPennyInvocation,

9 claudeDesktopConfigLibraryPath,

10 claudeDesktopCredentialHelperPath,

11 claudeLaunchSettingsPath,

12 claudeUserSkillPath,

13 codexLaunchProfilePath,

14 codexModelCatalogPath,

15 configureClaudeDesktopProfile,

16 createCodexDesktopHome,

17 configurePennyHarness,

18 fileMode,

19 installPennyCompare,

20 installPennyRuntime,

21 isClaudeDesktopRunning,

src/harnesses/codegpt.jsView file

Lines 1-21javascript

1import { spawnSync } from "node:child_process";

High

Sandbox Evasion Gated Capability

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

src/harnesses/codegpt.jsView on unpkg · L1

3export const codeGptHarness = {

4 id: "codegpt",

src/statusline.jsView file

•Runtime or CLI code links a write operation to an explicit external AI-agent control path: tatusline (all lines) |] penny segment (penny / penny (sub) // / penny (byok) / penny off). the wrapped statusline's first line gets the penny suffix; // any further lines (e.g. a context bar) pass through verbatim. // never blocks on the network: reads a per-session cache and refreshes it detached. import { readfilesync, mkdirsync, writefilesync, statsync } from "node:fs"; import { spawn, spawnsync } from "node:child_process"; import { join, basename } from "node:path"; import os from "node:os"; const statedir = join( process.env.xdg_state_home || join(os.homedir(), ".local", "state"), "pennyrouter", ); const cachedir = join(statedir, "statusline-cache"); const titlesessionfile = process.env.pe

High

External Ai Agent Control Surface Mutation

Runtime or CLI source writes behavior-bearing configuration into a user or project AI-agent control surface.

src/statusline.jsView on unpkg

src/launch.jsView file

•Manifest-trigger-reachable source links an external AI-agent control path to a behavior-bearing write operation. export function pennydatadir() { if (process.platform === "win32") { return join(process.env.localappdata || process.env.appdata || homedir(), "pennyrouter"); } return join(process.env.xdg_data_home || join(homedir(), ".local", "share"), "pennyrouter"); } export function pennyruntimedir() { return join(pennydatadir(), "runtime"); } export function pennycomparedir() { return join(pennydatadir(), "compare"); } export function pennybindir() { if (process.platform === "win32") return join(pennydatadir(), "bin"); return join(homedir(), ".local", "bin"); } export function pennyshimpath() { return join(pennybindir(), process.platform === "win32" ? "penny.cmd" :

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.

src/launch.jsView on unpkg

standalone/claude-proxy.shView file

•path = standalone/claude-proxy.sh kind = build_helper sizeBytes = 8224 magicHex = [redacted]

Medium

Ships Build Helper

Package ships non-JavaScript build or shell helper files.

standalone/claude-proxy.shView on unpkg

src/mcp-register.js#virtual:normalized:round1View file

•stage = ast_semantic_analysis; reason = ast_parse_error; limitedFiles = 2

High

Semantic Analysis Limited

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

src/mcp-register.js#virtual:normalized:round1View on unpkg

src/cli.jsView file

•matchType = previous_version_dangerous_delta matchedPackage = pennyrouter@0.3.17 matchedIdentity = npm:cGVubnlyb3V0ZXI:0.3.17 similarity = 0.613 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.

src/cli.jsView on unpkg

Source & flagged code

7 flagged · loading source

src/launch.test.jsView file

1import assert from "node:assert/strict"; L2: import { spawnSync } from "node:child_process"; L3: import fs from "node:fs"; ... L54: async function main() { L55: if (!(["darwin", "linux"].includes(process.platform))) { L56: console.log("launch.test.js: skipped on unsupported platform"); ... L60: const root = fs.mkdtempSync(path.join(os.tmpdir(), "pr-launch-test-")); L61: const previous = Object.fromEntries(ENV_KEYS.map((key) => [key, process.env[key]])); L62: const home = path.join(root, "home"); ... L68: }, null, 2)}\n`; L69: const nativeCodex = 'model = "native-model"\n\nmodel_provider = "pennyrouter"\n\n[model_providers.pennyrouter]\nname = "PennyRouter"\nbase_url = "http://localhost:8400/v1"\n'; L70: fs.writeFileSync(path.join(home, ".claude", "settings.json"), nativeClaude);

Medium

Install Persistence

Source writes installer persistence such as shell profile or service configuration.

src/launch.test.jsView on unpkg · L1

src/harnesses/codegpt.jsView file

1import { spawnSync } from "node:child_process"; L2: ... L52: L53: // The record carries the base URL this install actually wrote, so a private/self-hosted L54: // gateway is named here instead of the hosted default the user never configured. ... L58: console.log(" Open CodeGPT settings and remove or replace the PennyRouter provider:"); L59: console.log(` - Base URL: ${record?.changes?.base_url || "https://api.pennyrouter.com/v1"}`); L60: console.log(" - API Key: pr-..."); ... L66: const commands = L67: process.platform === "darwin" L68: ? [["pbcopy"]] L69: : process.platform === "win32"

Findings

5 High5 Medium4 Low

HighSandbox Evasion Gated Capabilitysrc/harnesses/codegpt.js

HighExternal Ai Agent Control Surface Mutationsrc/statusline.js

HighTrigger Reachable External Ai Agent Control Surface Mutationsrc/launch.js

HighSemantic Analysis Limitedsrc/mcp-register.js#virtual:normalized:round1

HighPrevious Version Dangerous Deltasrc/cli.js

MediumNetwork

MediumEnvironment Vars

MediumInstall Persistencesrc/launch.test.js

MediumShips Build Helperstandalone/claude-proxy.sh

MediumStructural Risk Force Deep Review

LowScripts Present

LowFilesystem

LowHigh Entropy Strings

Affected versions and remediation

This report applies to pennyrouter@0.3.58.

See all versions of pennyrouter for other recorded verdicts.

Review the evidence and your use of pennyrouter@0.3.58 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: 2026-10-11 19:07:44.117Z (UTC).

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