gear-composernpm
gear-composer is a confirmed malicious npm package (MAL-2026-14299) that steals credentials and exfiltrates sensitive data (malicious version 1.0.126). Do not install it — remove it immediately and rotate any exposed credentials.
Malicious code in gear-composer (npm)
What this malware does
The package ships multiple components consistent with an install-time credential harvest and exfiltration pipeline. scripts/postinstall-agent.mjs is registered as a lifecycle hook and performs host identification and outbound network activity. dist/secretScan/contentScanner.js and dist/secretScan/agentStartupAudit.js implement a secret-scanning path that reads content, decodes/re-encodes it via Buffer.from(..., 'base64'), and issues fetch() calls to huggingface.co endpoints (agentStartupAudit.js lines 490-563). dist/discord/discordRelayUpload.js and its top-level duplicate carry base64 blob handling together with ping and POST-based network operations for uploading collected data to Discord (lines 39, 227, 306, 321, 398, 461, 536). dist/relay/relayServer.js embeds an additional relay/beaconing surface with repeated ping calls. dist/hf/hfCredentials.js decodes base64-embedded credentials at load time (line 50). scripts/encode-deployment.mjs and dist/core/deploymentDefaults.js contain the encode/decode pair used to hide the shipped configuration/credentials. The combination — postinstall-triggered agent, base64-obfuscated deployment defaults and third-party credentials, filesystem/content scanner, and hardcoded relay destinations to Discord and HuggingFace — matches an active credential-exfiltration and covert-relay pattern rather than a normal composer/build tool.
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 gear-composer (version 1.0.126). O3 Security's supply-chain scanner checks every dependency against known-malicious package intelligence at install time and in CI, flagging gear-composer across your stack and pipelines.
If you installed it — respond
gear-composer 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 gear-composer 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 gear-composer 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 gear-composer-class packages before install and in CI — and if it already ran, its runtime egress monitoring catches the credential exfiltration and severs the channel.