hydration-ui-dimnpm
Advisory published Updated
hydration-ui-dim is a confirmed malicious npm package (MAL-2026-14431) that steals credentials and exfiltrates sensitive data (malicious version 1.0.0). Do not install it — remove it immediately and rotate any exposed credentials.
Malicious code in hydration-ui-dim (npm)
What this malware does
On import 'hydration-ui-dim', dist/index.mjs runs a top-level async IIFE that chmods dist/internal/calc-math.dat to 0755 and spawns it detached via child_process. The file is a Linux x86_64 ELF, not a math accelerator; the package's stated purpose is pure-JS calendar-day/streak math and requires no native binary. The bundled ELF is a full remote-control agent: it beacons over TLS to hardcoded IP 217.60.77.63 with a 'REDSHELL' / 'SECURE_BEACON' tag, dispatches network-sourced commands into /bin/sh and /bin/bash, and exposes an operator command set including /sysinfo, /ps, /env, /ls, /cat, /download, /upload, /ssh_keys, /creds, /dbfind, /dataextract, /clipboard, /spawn, and /adduser. It fetches second-stage payloads over plain HTTP from /Others/ and /SC/ endpoints on the C2 and executes them, including an in-memory memfd_create path (syscall 319) to run downloaded ELFs without touching disk, with a /tmp/.elf_XXXXXX fallback. A /redshell persist command writes ~/.config/systemd/user/svc-update.service (Description='System Update Service', Restart=always) and enables it via systemctl --user enable --now, providing boot-time persistence under the installing user. Harvested filesystem trees, SSH keys, credential stores, database files, clipboard contents, and environment variables are chunked and uploaded via POST /api/extract-receive framed with BIGEXTRACT_START/BIGEXTRACT_END markers. The ELF is disguised via a 'native math accelerator' cover story and a hardcoded SHA-256 'integrity verification' constant, but the JS math primitives are self-contained and never call into the binary.
Any computer that has this package installed or running should be considered fully compromised. All secrets and keys stored on that computer should be rotated immediately from a different computer. The package should be removed, but as full control of the computer may have been given to an outside entity, there is no guarantee that removing the package will remove all malicious software resulting from installing it.
Malicious versions
Indicators of compromise (SHA-256)
Detection & response playbook
Credential / info stealerFind it
Search your lockfiles and build artifacts for hydration-ui-dim (version 1.0.0).
If you installed it — respond
hydration-ui-dim 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 hydration-ui-dim was installed, its post-install payload may already have run. Removing the package does not undo that — check outbound connections and credential use from the install window onward.
Frequently asked questions
Campaign
References
Credits
- Amazon Inspector · finder
Detect & block this
O3 blocks hydration-ui-dim-class packages before install and in CI — and if it already ran, its runtime egress monitoring catches the credential exfiltration and severs the channel.