Which versions of minequest are malicious?

The following npm versions of minequest are flagged malicious: 0.1.1. Treat any of these as compromised.

How do I remediate minequest if I installed it?

Remove minequest from your project and lockfile, then assume any secrets accessible to the build or runtime were exposed: rotate API keys, tokens, and credentials, and audit for unexpected outbound activity or persistence.

I already installed minequest — how do I know if it already compromised me?

If minequest 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.

Is minequest part of a known attack campaign?

Yes — minequest is associated with the IN-MAL-2026-018391 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 minequest across my projects, lockfiles, and CI pipelines?

Search your lockfiles and build artifacts for minequest (version 0.1.1).

Malicious package

minequestnpm

Advisory published Aug 19, 2026Updated Aug 19, 2026

minequest is a confirmed malicious npm package (MAL-2026-14275) that executes malicious code on install (malicious version 0.1.1). Do not install it — remove it immediately and rotate any exposed credentials.

Malicious code in minequest (npm)

MAL-2026-14275

Immediate action

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

npm uninstall minequest

What this malware does

package.json declares a postinstall hook running scripts/init.js, which chmod 0755's assets/thanks-amd64.elf and execFileSync's it on Linux x64 during npm install. The README states the package has 'no install hooks, no native binaries — just readable JavaScript', and scripts/build-elf.js is written to look like a fully-auditable ~250-byte hand-assembled ELF that only prints a thank-you message. The binary actually shipped in the tarball is a 33,648,788-byte Go-compiled executable (sha256 05b696…4420) containing Go runtime symbols, chacha8, and references to /proc/self/cgroup, /proc/self/mountinfo, and syscall filter strings — an artifact with no relationship to the shipped build script. The documented audit path is a cover story for an opaque native binary that executes with installer privileges on every Linux x64 npm install, with no description of its actual behavior available to the installer.

Malicious versions

1 flagged

0.1.1

Indicators of compromise (SHA-256)

54dfa76784b35d5d63fa89a85c071e83d21e55291871b40627c36015291f24a1

Detection & response playbook

Malicious package

Find it
Search your lockfiles and build artifacts for minequest (version 0.1.1).
If you installed it — respond
Remove minequest from your project and lockfile, then assume any secrets accessible to the build or runtime were exposed: rotate API keys, tokens, and credentials, and audit for unexpected outbound activity or persistence.
Did it already run?
If minequest 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

No. minequest on npm has been identified as a malicious package (version 0.1.1 flagged). It should be removed immediately — do not install or keep it in your dependency tree.

Campaign

IN-MAL-2026-018391

References

npmjs.com

Credits

Amazon Inspector · finder

Detect & block this

O3 blocks minequest-class packages before install and in CI — and if it already ran, its runtime egress monitoring catches the malicious outbound activity and severs the channel.

Malware detection Runtime egress monitoring

Explore

All malware advisories How O3 detects malware Vulnerability database