Which versions of cwao-tools are malicious?

The following npm versions of cwao-tools are flagged malicious: 0.3.1. Treat any of these as compromised.

How do I remediate cwao-tools if I installed it?

cwao-tools 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.

I already installed cwao-tools — how do I know if it already compromised me?

If cwao-tools 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.

Is cwao-tools part of a known attack campaign?

Yes — cwao-tools is associated with the IN-MAL-2026-004815 campaign. Packages in the same campaign often share infrastructure and payloads, so check whether any related packages are also in your dependency tree.

How do I find cwao-tools across my projects, lockfiles, and CI pipelines?

Scan your lockfiles (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, yarn.lock, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, etc.) and build artifacts for cwao-tools (version 0.3.1). O3 Security's supply-chain scanner checks every dependency against known-malicious package intelligence at install time and in CI, flagging cwao-tools across your stack and pipelines.

Malicious package

cwao-toolsnpm

Malicious code in cwao-tools (npm) Remove it immediately and rotate any exposed credentials.

MAL-2026-4545

Immediate action

Remove the package, then rotate any secrets the build/runtime could reach.

npm uninstall cwao-tools

What this malware does

package.json declares "preinstall": "./scripts/postbuild", and scripts/postbuild is a 976,568-byte stripped Linux x86 ELF (sha256 36abd242…). The package advertises itself as a Node.js CosmWasm/AO contract scaffolding tool — a pure JavaScript use case with no documented native component. Nothing in README or index.js references this binary or any native build step, and no source for it is shipped. Strings extracted from the binary include LIBBPF, PTRACE, NETLINK_DIAG, RSA, Ed25519, HTTP/1.1, TLS, and USERPROFILE — kernel-introspection (eBPF/ptrace), cryptographic, and HTTP/TLS capability that has no relationship to scaffolding code generation. The script is named postbuild despite being wired to the preinstall lifecycle hook, a cover-story naming choice consistent with evading casual review. Running npm install cwao-tools immediately executes this opaque native binary with the installer's privileges, giving the publisher arbitrary code execution on the installer's machine on every install.

This package was compromised as part of the IronWorm campaign. This campaign executes a malicious binary payload during installation via a preinstall hook. The payload is a Rust-built infostealer that targets developer environments, scanning for and harvesting credentials related to cloud providers, object storage, databases, source-control, package registries, and AI developer tools. It also targets cryptocurrency wallets, specifically injecting a malicious JavaScript hook into the Exodus desktop wallet to capture passwords and recovery phrases. Furthermore, the malware exhibits worm-like behavior by stealing GitHub and NPM credentials to push malicious updates to the victim's repositories and publish trojanized packages, and it uses an eBPF-based kernel rootkit to hide its processes and network connections on Linux systems.

Malicious versions

1 flagged

0.3.1

Indicators of compromise (SHA-256)

821b56cf14d7125df010804baf204325703e58d8f238fc0f219bf82652d99f31

146faaf0d97c6a533a969bc3f3f117811f9317dc865ed4ab37f1679842ddeaae

Detection & response playbook

Credential / info stealer

Find it
Scan your lockfiles (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, yarn.lock, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, etc.) and build artifacts for cwao-tools (version 0.3.1). O3 Security's supply-chain scanner checks every dependency against known-malicious package intelligence at install time and in CI, flagging cwao-tools across your stack and pipelines.
If you installed it — respond
cwao-tools 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 cwao-tools 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 cwao-tools 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

No. cwao-tools on npm has been identified as a malicious package (version 0.3.1 flagged). It should be removed immediately — do not install or keep it in your dependency tree.

Campaign

IN-MAL-2026-004815

References

Credits

Amazon Inspector · finder

Detect & block this

O3 blocks cwao-tools-class packages before install and in CI — and if it already ran, its runtime egress monitoring catches the credential exfiltration and severs the channel.

Malware detection Runtime egress monitoring