async-mutex-hooknpm
async-mutex-hook is a confirmed malicious npm package (MAL-2026-12339) that steals credentials and exfiltrates sensitive data (malicious version 2.1.0). Do not install it — remove it immediately and rotate any exposed credentials.
Malicious code in async-mutex-hook (npm)
What this malware does
Package is published under the name async-mutex-hook and self-describes as a Promise-based mutex library, but ships no mutex implementation. Its exported getPlugin function issues an HTTPS request to the hardcoded bare-IP endpoint https://46.183.25.232:45000/icons/108 and passes the response's credits field to new Function('require','module','exports',...,'Promise', data.credits), executing attacker-controlled JavaScript with full Node.js privileges (require, process, Buffer, and shipped dependencies injected). The declared dependencies (@primno/dpapi for Windows DPAPI, better-sqlite3/sqlite3 for browser cookie and login databases, node-machine-id) are unrelated to any mutex functionality and are the standard building blocks for browser-credential and DPAPI theft, matching the capability the remote payload would need to invoke on the installer's host.
Malicious versions
Indicators of compromise (SHA-256)
Detection & response playbook
Credential / info stealerFind it
Scan your lockfiles (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, yarn.lock, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, etc.) and build artifacts for async-mutex-hook (version 2.1.0). O3 Security's supply-chain scanner checks every dependency against known-malicious package intelligence at install time and in CI, flagging async-mutex-hook across your stack and pipelines.
If you installed it — respond
async-mutex-hook is built to steal secrets, so assume every credential the build or runtime could read is compromised. Remove it from your project and lockfile, then rotate ALL exposed secrets — npm/registry tokens, cloud keys, CI/CD secrets, SSH keys, and any .env values — from a known-clean machine. Audit logs for unauthorized use of those credentials.
Did it already run?
If async-mutex-hook was ever installed, its post-install/runtime payload may have already executed. O3's L7 egress monitoring and runtime eBPF sensors detect the credential exfiltration or command-and-control callback after install and block the malicious outbound channel, so you catch and contain the actual compromise — not just the presence of the package.
How O3 protects you
O3 blocks async-mutex-hook before install through its supply-chain scanner, and if it has already run, detects and severs the exfiltration or C2 callback at runtime through L7 egress monitoring and eBPF.
Frequently asked questions
Campaign
References
Credits
- Amazon Inspector · finder
Detect & block this
O3 blocks async-mutex-hook-class packages before install and in CI — and if it already ran, its runtime egress monitoring catches the credential exfiltration and severs the channel.