Which versions of sysbu are malicious?

The following npm versions of sysbu are flagged malicious: 1.0.1, 1.0.2, 1.0.3. Treat any of these as compromised.

How do I remediate sysbu if I installed it?

sysbu 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.

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

If sysbu was ever installed, its post-install/runtime payload may have already executed. O3's L7 egress monitoring and runtime eBPF sensors detect the credential exfiltration or command-and-control callback after install and block the malicious outbound channel, so you catch and contain the actual compromise — not just the presence of the package.

Is sysbu part of a known attack campaign?

Yes — sysbu is associated with the IN-MAL-2026-005655, IN-MAL-2026-005654, IN-MAL-2026-007448 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 sysbu across my projects, lockfiles, and CI pipelines?

Scan your lockfiles (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, yarn.lock, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, etc.) and build artifacts for sysbu (3 malicious versions). O3 Security's supply-chain scanner checks every dependency against known-malicious package intelligence at install time and in CI, flagging sysbu across your stack and pipelines.

Malicious package

sysbunpm

sysbu is a confirmed malicious npm package (MAL-2026-5616) that steals credentials and exfiltrates sensitive data (malicious versions 1.0.1, 1.0.2, 1.0.3). Do not install it — remove it immediately and rotate any exposed credentials.

Malicious code in sysbu (npm)

MAL-2026-5616

Immediate action

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

npm uninstall sysbu

What this malware does

Despite advertising itself as a 'System binary configuration tool', sysbu's index.js unconditionally invokes startApp() on require/CLI execution. If Python is not present, it silently installs Python 3.12 — first via winget install Python.Python.3.12, falling back to downloading https://www.python.org/ftp/python/3.12.3/python-3.12.3-amd64.exe to %TEMP% and running it with /quiet InstallAllUsers=0 PrependPath=1. It then silently runs pip install pyperclip keyboard requests pillow mss pyautogui pywin32 uiautomation comtypes --quiet (with stdio suppressed) and launches a sibling pointer.py. pointer.py creates a hidden topmost transparent Tk overlay, polls pyperclip.paste() every 300ms, and on any new clipboard text >5 chars POSTs the full clipboard contents to https://new-pointer.vercel.app/api. An alt+s hotkey captures the full primary monitor via mss, base64-encodes the JPEG, and POSTs it to the same endpoint; F8/F9/F10 walk the foreground application's UI tree via uiautomation and exfiltrate text content. A type_worker writes attacker-supplied response text into the foreground window via pyautogui keystroke injection. ctrl+q is bound as a panic-exit, esc/backtick toggle the overlay's visibility. The advertised purpose, name, and keywords (system/binary/util/config) are a cover story for a clipboard/screen exfiltration and remote-keystroke-injection payload — likely an interview-cheating tool given the mode names ('aptitude','dsa','fullstack','aws','ocr'). Clipboard contents on developer machines routinely include passwords, tokens, and other secrets; full-screen captures expose anything visible on the host.

Malicious versions

3 flagged

1.0.11.0.21.0.3

Indicators of compromise (SHA-256)

074576d86fa21528b2813cd44725e41b91aa0219c4724669cd5aabb5d12457a0

c7d7e10321db9abd5e77b0f656d5fac237968ecd79c0ce409b58ee555fb5b236

a338a4423d95161f4f4da4605e8e69623decb6fa74812e78a15146c80cb2c6b2

Detection & response playbook

Credential / info stealer

Find it
Scan your lockfiles (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, yarn.lock, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, etc.) and build artifacts for sysbu (3 malicious versions). O3 Security's supply-chain scanner checks every dependency against known-malicious package intelligence at install time and in CI, flagging sysbu across your stack and pipelines.
If you installed it — respond
sysbu 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 sysbu was ever installed, its post-install/runtime payload may have already executed. O3's L7 egress monitoring and runtime eBPF sensors detect the credential exfiltration or command-and-control callback after install and block the malicious outbound channel, so you catch and contain the actual compromise — not just the presence of the package.
How O3 protects you
O3 blocks sysbu before install through its supply-chain scanner, and if it has already run, detects and severs the exfiltration or C2 callback at runtime through L7 egress monitoring and eBPF.

Frequently asked questions

No. sysbu on npm has been identified as a malicious package (versions 1.0.1, 1.0.2, 1.0.3 flagged). It should be removed immediately — do not install or keep it in your dependency tree.

Campaign

IN-MAL-2026-005655IN-MAL-2026-005654IN-MAL-2026-007448

References

Credits

Amazon Inspector · finder

Detect & block this

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

Malware detection Runtime egress monitoring

Explore

All malware advisories How O3 detects malware Vulnerability database