Which versions of cwao-units are malicious?

The following npm versions of cwao-units are flagged malicious: 0.8.3. Treat any of these as compromised.

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

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

If cwao-units 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-units part of a known attack campaign?

Yes — cwao-units is associated with the IN-MAL-2026-004821 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-units 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-units (version 0.8.3). O3 Security's supply-chain scanner checks every dependency against known-malicious package intelligence at install time and in CI, flagging cwao-units across your stack and pipelines.

Malicious package

cwao-unitsnpm

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

MAL-2026-4546

Immediate action

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

npm uninstall cwao-units

What this malware does

package.json declares "preinstall": "./scripts/postbuild", where scripts/postbuild is a 976,568-byte Linux x86-64 ELF binary shipped in the tarball with no corresponding source, no native build configuration (no binding.gyp, no.c/.cc/.rs files, no node-gyp/cmake-js/prebuild-install tooling), and no mention in README. The package self-describes as a pure-JS Arweave/AO unit runner whose declared dependencies (arweave, express, cors, ramda, weavedb) are all pure JavaScript — there is no legitimate cover story for a platform-specific native binary. Strings inside the ELF include LIBBPF_0.0, PTRACE, NETLINK, HTTP/1.1, https://, Ed25519/RSA/MLKEM crypto primitives, and USERPROFILE, indicating network-capable, BPF/ptrace-capable native code. Every npm install cwao-units executes this opaque binary as the installer's user before the package is even loaded. The filename postbuild is suggestively chosen to mimic a benign build artifact, and the binary is invoked as a preinstall (not postinstall) hook so it fires before any inspection. This matches the canonical opaque-binary dropper pattern: doc-mismatch + thin lifecycle-script wrapper + undocumented native code with networking/tracing primitives.

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

0.8.3

Indicators of compromise (SHA-256)

94f3ce7490e9a811444c5493ebb6d968f9dd7879d7695f330e101cf5b158fedf

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-units (version 0.8.3). O3 Security's supply-chain scanner checks every dependency against known-malicious package intelligence at install time and in CI, flagging cwao-units across your stack and pipelines.
If you installed it — respond
cwao-units 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-units 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-units 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-units on npm has been identified as a malicious package (version 0.8.3 flagged). It should be removed immediately — do not install or keep it in your dependency tree.

Campaign

IN-MAL-2026-004821

References

Credits

Amazon Inspector · finder

Detect & block this

O3 blocks cwao-units-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