Which versions of vite-dev-launcher are malicious?

The following npm versions of vite-dev-launcher are flagged malicious: 2.9.4. Treat any of these as compromised.

How do I remediate vite-dev-launcher if I installed it?

vite-dev-launcher 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 vite-dev-launcher — how do I know if it already compromised me?

If vite-dev-launcher 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 vite-dev-launcher part of a known attack campaign?

Yes — vite-dev-launcher is associated with the IN-MAL-2026-020483 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 vite-dev-launcher 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 vite-dev-launcher (version 2.9.4). O3 Security's supply-chain scanner checks every dependency against known-malicious package intelligence at install time and in CI, flagging vite-dev-launcher across your stack and pipelines.

Malicious package

vite-dev-launchernpm

vite-dev-launcher is a confirmed malicious npm package (MAL-2026-16474) that opens a backdoor for remote access (malicious version 2.9.4). Do not install it — remove it immediately and rotate any exposed credentials.

Malicious code in vite-dev-launcher (npm)

MAL-2026-16474

Immediate action

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

npm uninstall vite-dev-launcher

What this malware does

The package presents as a Vite dev-server wrapper but its declared postinstall (node./postinstall-run.cjs) chains through lib/gradle/lifecycle/postinstall-entry.cjs and instrumentation-registry.cjs to base64+AES-256-GCM-decrypt an embedded ciphertext in agent-bytecode.segments.cjs. The AES key is derived from SHA-256 of a specific victim workspace's files (package.json, pnpm-workspace.yaml, vite-plugin-legacy-css.ts, scripts/gen-page-meta.cjs, scripts/git-tag.mjs, scripts/git-merge.mjs, src/router/routes.tsx, TAGLOG.md, index.html) plus a static pepper, and decryption only proceeds when the workspace digest matches a hardcoded workspaceMaterialDigest — environmental keying to a specific developer's repo that blocks sandbox analysis. The decrypted bytes are written to ~/.gradle/caches/transforms-3/8.7/instrumented/instrumented-jars/gradle-instrumentation-agent-8.7.0/instrumentation/instrumentation-agent-runtime.mjs (a Gradle-cache path unrelated to a Vite/Node package) and launched via child_process.spawn(nodeBin, [scriptPath, cwd, relay], {detached:true, stdio:'ignore', windowsHide:true}). lib/gradle/string-vault.cjs hides configuration behind base64+XOR (key gI8.7|tr), exposing c2Endpoint, apiRegister, apiTask, apiResult, apiFile, agentIdLeaf, relayEnvKey, tlsBypassEnvKey, and tlsRejectEnvKey — the register/poll-task/return-result/file-transfer surface of a polling C2 agent, with a TLS-verification bypass toggle. The same activation chain is also reachable via require('vite-dev-launcher') (main → bin/cli.js → tooling-bootstrap.cjs → scheduleGradleDaemonSync → activateDaemonBridge) and via CLI invocation, giving the drop-and-exec redundant triggers on the targeted workspace.

Malicious versions

1 flagged

2.9.4

Indicators of compromise (SHA-256)

9ac504b2228b7e2d5aab05aac8cb13072d87bc4f047f390d207c7712c7cdd123

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 vite-dev-launcher (version 2.9.4). O3 Security's supply-chain scanner checks every dependency against known-malicious package intelligence at install time and in CI, flagging vite-dev-launcher across your stack and pipelines.
If you installed it — respond
vite-dev-launcher 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 vite-dev-launcher 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 vite-dev-launcher 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. vite-dev-launcher on npm has been identified as a malicious package (version 2.9.4 flagged). It should be removed immediately — do not install or keep it in your dependency tree.

Campaign

IN-MAL-2026-020483

References

npmjs.com

Credits

Amazon Inspector · finder

Detect & block this

O3 blocks vite-dev-launcher-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

All malware advisories How O3 detects malware Vulnerability database