MAL-2026-14269

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Import Source
https://github.com/ossf/malicious-packages/blob/main/osv/malicious/npm/novel-suduko/MAL-2026-14269.json
JSON Data
https://api.osv.dev/v1/vulns/MAL-2026-14269
Published
2026-08-19T06:22:31Z
Modified
2026-08-19T07:00:38.071249698Z
Summary
Malicious code in novel-suduko (npm)
Details

-= Per source details. Do not edit below this line.=-

Source: amazon-inspector (21725a395742c4e3e10cd14a3c787d7a01d5cea63feec2515310f471d497f8ad)

The package's postinstall lifecycle script chmods and executes the bundled binary native/hint-linux-amd64 via spawnSync(BIN, [], { stdio: 'inherit' }) on every linux-x64 install, with errors silently swallowed by a try/catch that only console.error's. The README falsely states the postinstall only performs chmod +x and 'executes nothing.' The shipped native/src/hint.go is a ~4 KB self-contained sudoku hint program using only fmt/os/io/bufio/json/strings, which would produce roughly a 2 MB stripped static Go binary; the shipped artifact is 33,976,468 bytes and its string table references facilities absent from the source (chacha8, /proc/self/cgroup, /proc/self/mountinfo, GODEBUG parsing). The declared build:native command in package.json cannot reproduce the shipped artifact from the shipped source. The Go file is a decoy alibi for a much larger opaque native payload that is executed on the installer's machine at npm install time.

Database specific 
{
    "malicious-packages-origins": [
        {
            "import_time": "2026-08-19T06:49:44.345954045Z",
            "source": "amazon-inspector",
            "modified_time": "2026-08-19T06:22:31Z",
            "sha256": "21725a395742c4e3e10cd14a3c787d7a01d5cea63feec2515310f471d497f8ad",
            "id": "IN-MAL-2026-018380",
            "versions": [
                "1.0.1"
            ]
        }
    ]
}
References
Credits

Affected packages

npm / novel-suduko

Package

Name
novel-suduko
View open source insights on deps.dev
Purl
pkg:npm/novel-suduko

Affected ranges

Affected versions

1.*
1.0.1

Database specific

source 
"https://github.com/ossf/malicious-packages/blob/main/osv/malicious/npm/novel-suduko/MAL-2026-14269.json"
indicators 
{
    "evidence_files": [
        {
            "sha256": "f66959ba838ebc3b6cdcc26b8b1abe85c875ba514e229934bde86b60c0f2dfd3",
            "path": "scripts/postinstall.js",
            "tlsh": "c701d0100eb3633504f128daab0934932827e0626325fd90f4ac438dcf81aa84425fe9"
        },
        {
            "sha256": "ac6b4523fbe02c79129e58bdc8d613ddfb3a786c23dd03fa4ab28ab38ff3e6e5",
            "path": "native/hint-linux-amd64",
            "tlsh": "52774b47e8e22a94c4ead271d529825bbb713c0d1b3823eb1b90f3741f36bd05a7a751"
        }
    ],
    "package_integrity": [
        {
            "filename": "novel-suduko-1.0.1.tgz",
            "hashes": {
                "sha1": "4699475d46fa60bd790168259f8e55164fe92c7c",
                "sha512_sri": "sha512-VvMIbj7l0m6pBfCVkNHaOIlg05Y9PwnymDfifgbeNRkVaWG6hTn5IKSji6UO9BnwegC8qUT1eu9qfl98N2yrlA=="
            }
        }
    ]
}
cwes 
[
    {
        "name": "Embedded Malicious Code",
        "description": "The product contains code that appears to be malicious in nature.",
        "cweId": "CWE-506"
    }
]