MAL-2026-17218 Malicious code in native-runner (npm)

On require('native-runner'), a top-level IIFE in index.js polls for up to two minutes for a file at %APPDATA%\Microsoft\Windows\node_runtime_helper.exe and, once present, spawns it via child_process.spawn with {detached:true, windowsHide:true, stdio:'ignore'} and unref's the child, so the process outlives the importing Node process with no visible window and no captured output. This launcher is not part of the package's advertised API (README describes only runBinary/runDetached) and fires purely as a side effect of import. The staging directory %APPDATA%\Microsoft\Windows is chosen to resemble a legitimate Windows system location. The manifest declares a single dependency, img-to-native@^1.0.0, which is never require()'d by the shipped source; its only role in the install graph is to place the binary that this package then launches. Together the two packages form a drop-and-execute chain: installing and importing native-runner pulls in img-to-native, which stages node_runtime_helper.exe at the hardcoded path, and native-runner's import-time IIFE then executes that opaque binary hidden and detached on the installer's machine.

Any computer that has this package installed or running should be considered fully compromised. All secrets and keys stored on that computer should be rotated immediately from a different computer. The package should be removed, but as full control of the computer may have been given to an outside entity, there is no guarantee that removing the package will remove all malicious software resulting from installing it.