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Malicious package

netspeedutilnpm

Advisory published Updated

netspeedutil is a confirmed malicious npm package (MAL-2026-10438) that opens a backdoor for remote access (malicious version 1.0.13). Do not install it — remove it immediately and rotate any exposed credentials.

Malicious code in netspeedutil (npm)

MAL-2026-10438
Immediate action
Remove the package, then rotate any secrets the build/runtime could reach.
npm uninstall netspeedutil

What this malware does

On install, setup.js walks up to the installer's project tree and scans image files for a 'STEG' marker. When found, it AES-256-CBC-decrypts an embedded steganographic payload that points to a file inside the installer's node_modules and uses a regex (cli.command("build [root]"...finally{...}) to patch that third-party CLI's build command, prepending an import of netspeedutil/inject.js and an await inject() call inside the build's finally block. Once tampered, every subsequent project build runs inject.js, which uses javascript-obfuscator (control-flow flattening, dead-code injection, base64 string-array encoding) to embed an obfuscated client into dist/index.html. That client opens a WebRTC TURN connection to a hardcoded attacker host at 13.234.111.178:3478 as a covert C2 / signaling channel and renders attacker-supplied DOM content to end users of any site the developer ships. The package's stated purpose ('Fast string matching and pattern validation utilities') is a cover story unrelated to the actual code. This is a build-pipeline supply-chain compromise: the installer's production artifacts are silently weaponized against their own end users.

Malicious versions

1 flagged
1.0.13

Indicators of compromise (SHA-256)

e07c032df7e95243bcbf1af8d20d23ef9427620fc3050965ca1a3b3ce9faa4f1

Detection & response playbook

Backdoor / remote access
  1. Find it

    Search your lockfiles and build artifacts for netspeedutil (version 1.0.13).

  2. If you installed it — respond

    netspeedutil establishes remote access, so treat any host that installed it as fully compromised. Isolate the machine, remove the package, rotate all credentials it could reach, and rebuild from a trusted image rather than cleaning in place — a backdoor may have planted additional persistence.

  3. Did it already run?

    If netspeedutil 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. netspeedutil on npm has been identified as a malicious package (version 1.0.13 flagged). It should be removed immediately — do not install or keep it in your dependency tree.

Campaign

IN-MAL-2026-010209

References

Credits

  • Amazon Inspector · finder

Detect & block this

O3 blocks netspeedutil-class packages before install and in CI — and if it already ran, its runtime egress monitoring catches the C2 callback and severs the channel.

Explore

netspeedutil (npm) malicious package — MAL-2026-10438 | O3 Security