Which versions of system-performance-helper are malicious?

The following npm versions of system-performance-helper are flagged malicious: 1.0.0. Treat any of these as compromised.

How do I remediate system-performance-helper if I installed it?

system-performance-helper 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.

I already installed system-performance-helper — how do I know if it already compromised me?

If system-performance-helper 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 system-performance-helper part of a known attack campaign?

Yes — system-performance-helper is associated with the IN-MAL-2026-018270 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 system-performance-helper 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 system-performance-helper (version 1.0.0). O3 Security's supply-chain scanner checks every dependency against known-malicious package intelligence at install time and in CI, flagging system-performance-helper across your stack and pipelines.

Malicious package

system-performance-helpernpm

system-performance-helper is a confirmed malicious npm package (MAL-2026-14194) that opens a backdoor for remote access (malicious version 1.0.0). Do not install it — remove it immediately and rotate any exposed credentials.

Malicious code in system-performance-helper (npm)

MAL-2026-14194

Immediate action

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

npm uninstall system-performance-helper

What this malware does

Package advertises itself as a system performance monitoring helper, but its package.json declares a postinstall hook (node install.js) that opens a TCP socket and pipes a spawned OS shell (/bin/sh on Unix, cmd.exe on Windows) stdin/stdout/stderr through it, with auto-reconnect and a keep-alive interval — a canonical reverse-shell backdoor executed automatically on npm install. Bytes received from the remote peer are written directly into the shell, yielding full remote code execution on the installer's host. The destination is hardcoded as HOST="YOUR_PUBLIC_IP", PORT=4444, so as-published the connect() fails DNS resolution and no callback occurs; the payload itself is fully functional and any republish with the placeholder filled in weaponizes every install. The visible exports in index.js (getLoad, getTotalMemory wrapping os.loadavg/os.totalmem) are a cover story; install.js contains // Run silently and // Fail quietly comments around the socket-to-shell pipe, and the advertised monitoring behavior is not present in the postinstall payload.

Malicious versions

1 flagged

1.0.0

Indicators of compromise (SHA-256)

f382b23398f0b2550e29a61c444b8dbd45796d20c938dead6ada9d967d82cabc

Detection & response playbook

Backdoor / remote access

Find it
Scan your lockfiles (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, yarn.lock, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, etc.) and build artifacts for system-performance-helper (version 1.0.0). O3 Security's supply-chain scanner checks every dependency against known-malicious package intelligence at install time and in CI, flagging system-performance-helper across your stack and pipelines.
If you installed it — respond
system-performance-helper 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.
Did it already run?
If system-performance-helper 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 system-performance-helper 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. system-performance-helper on npm has been identified as a malicious package (version 1.0.0 flagged). It should be removed immediately — do not install or keep it in your dependency tree.

Campaign

IN-MAL-2026-018270

References

npmjs.com

Credits

Amazon Inspector · finder

Detect & block this

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

Malware detection Runtime egress monitoring

Explore

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