multicore-kitnpm
Advisory published Updated
multicore-kit is a confirmed malicious npm package (MAL-2026-15995) that steals credentials and exfiltrates sensitive data (malicious version 1.1.5). Do not install it — remove it immediately and rotate any exposed credentials.
Malicious code in multicore-kit (npm)
What this malware does
[email protected] is published under a spoofed author identity (Blake Embrey, maintainer of array-flatten) and advertises itself as an array utility, but multicore-kit.js contains a heavily obfuscated top-level IIFE that fires on require(). On import it creates ~/.vs_cache, writes an obfuscated JavaScript payload plus a synthesized package.json declaring axios, better-sqlite3, node-machine-id, and socket.io-client (with @primno/dpapi and sudo-prompt added on Windows), spawns npm install inside that staging directory, and then executes the decoded payload with node (or via powershell.exe on Windows). The Windows dependency set (@primno/dpapi to unwrap the Chrome/Edge Local State DPAPI key, better-sqlite3 to read the Login Data SQLite databases, socket.io-client for a C2 channel, node-machine-id for host fingerprinting, sudo-prompt for privilege escalation) is the standard toolkit of a browser-credential stealer and is unrelated to any array-flatten functionality. The main module uses obfuscator.io-style string-array rotation with a base64+URI decoder, and the on-disk payload embeds a second layer of the same obfuscation.
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 multicore-kit (version 1.1.5).
If you installed it — respond
multicore-kit 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 multicore-kit 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 multicore-kit-class packages before install and in CI — and if it already ran, its runtime egress monitoring catches the credential exfiltration and severs the channel.