Which versions of novel-suduko are malicious?

The following npm versions of novel-suduko are flagged malicious: 1.0.1. Treat any of these as compromised.

How do I remediate novel-suduko if I installed it?

Remove novel-suduko 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 novel-suduko — how do I know if it already compromised me?

If novel-suduko 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 novel-suduko part of a known attack campaign?

Yes — novel-suduko is associated with the IN-MAL-2026-018380 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 novel-suduko across my projects, lockfiles, and CI pipelines?

Search your lockfiles and build artifacts for novel-suduko (version 1.0.1).

Malicious package

novel-sudukonpm

Advisory published Aug 19, 2026Updated Aug 19, 2026

novel-suduko is a confirmed malicious npm package (MAL-2026-14269) that executes malicious code on install (malicious version 1.0.1). Do not install it — remove it immediately and rotate any exposed credentials.

Malicious code in novel-suduko (npm)

MAL-2026-14269

Immediate action

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

npm uninstall novel-suduko

What this malware does

The package's postinstall lifecycle script chmods and executes the bundled binary native/hint-linux-amd64 via spawnSync(BIN, [], { stdio: 'inherit' }) on every linux-x64 install, with errors silently swallowed by a try/catch that only console.error's. The README falsely states the postinstall only performs chmod +x and 'executes nothing.' The shipped native/src/hint.go is a ~4 KB self-contained sudoku hint program using only fmt/os/io/bufio/json/strings, which would produce roughly a 2 MB stripped static Go binary; the shipped artifact is 33,976,468 bytes and its string table references facilities absent from the source (chacha8, /proc/self/cgroup, /proc/self/mountinfo, GODEBUG parsing). The declared build:native command in package.json cannot reproduce the shipped artifact from the shipped source. The Go file is a decoy alibi for a much larger opaque native payload that is executed on the installer's machine at npm install time.

Malicious versions

1 flagged

1.0.1

Indicators of compromise (SHA-256)

21725a395742c4e3e10cd14a3c787d7a01d5cea63feec2515310f471d497f8ad

Detection & response playbook

Malicious package

Find it
Search your lockfiles and build artifacts for novel-suduko (version 1.0.1).
If you installed it — respond
Remove novel-suduko 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 novel-suduko 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. novel-suduko on npm has been identified as a malicious package (version 1.0.1 flagged). It should be removed immediately — do not install or keep it in your dependency tree.

Campaign

IN-MAL-2026-018380

References

npmjs.com

Credits

Amazon Inspector · finder

Detect & block this

O3 blocks novel-suduko-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