detecting-malicious-npm-packages SKILL.md skillA
detecting-malicious-npm-packages from adriannoes/awesome-agentic-ai is an agent skill: a SKILL.md folder an AI agent loads when a task calls for it.
mdr add adriannoes/awesome-agentic-ai/detecting-malicious-npm-packages@v1.0Pins v1.0 in mdr.lock. Pin the fingerprint instead.
- Audit grade
- A, 17 of 17 checks passed
- Kind
- SKILL.md skill
- Repository
- adriannoes/awesome-agentic-ai
- Path
cursor-claude-codex/skills/anthropic-cybersecurity-skills/skills/detecting-malicious-npm-packages/SKILL.md- Versions recorded
- 1
- Latest version
- v1.0, committed Jun 25, 2026
- Size
- 10,052 bytes
- Repository stars
- 69
- License
- MIT
Triage npm packages for install-script malware, exfiltration, and worming behavior.
Collected from public GitHub. Every version is saved exactly as it was and never changes. Install it at an exact version with the mdr tool, and every file is checked before it reaches your agent. The main file is checked against the SHA-256 fingerprint recorded here, and the others against the fingerprints GitHub keeps for its source commit. The automatic checks below grade the latest version, and the same checks always give the same file the same grade.
What the file says
# Detecting Malicious npm Packages > **Legal Notice:** Analyze packages in an isolated, disposable environment. Some malicious packages execute on install (`npm install` runs lifecycle scripts automatically) or on import. Never analyze a suspect package on a workstation with credentials, SSH keys, cloud tokens, or network access to production. This skill is for defensive analysis and authorized incident response only. ## Overview The npm registry is the largest software package ecosystem in the world and the most heavily targeted by supply-chain attackers. Malicious packages reach victims through typosquatting (`expresss`, `crossenv`), dependency confusion, account/maintainer takeover (the 2025 Shai-Hulud worm and the `event-stream` compromise are canonical examples), and starjacking. The defining danger of npm is that `npm install` automatically runs `preinstall`, `install`, and `postinstall` lifecycle scripts with the developer's full privileges **before any application code is invoked** — so simply installing a package is enough to be compromised. Roughly 2% of npm packages use install scripts, which makes them both common and a powerful malware delivery vehicle. …
Read the whole file at its exact version.
How to install
mdr add adriannoes/awesome-agentic-ai/detecting-malicious-npm-packages@sha256:a1537f89b6a9f2ebThe line at the top of this page pins the label v1.0, which is what most people want. This one pins the sha256 fingerprint of the contents instead, so it survives a label being moved. Either way the exact version is written to mdr.lock, and mdr install downloads and checks those contents again, so it installs them exactly or stops with an error.
[](https://markdownregistry.com/a/art_24vsjiccyzndv2qz)
2 badge image fetches in 30 days. What the badge shows.
Versions
The registry has recorded 1 version of this file, committed on Jun 25, 2026.
Audit of the latest version
- pass: Frontmatter block present
- pass: Frontmatter declares a name
- pass: Frontmatter declares a description
- pass: Size between 200 bytes and 200 KB (10052 bytes)
- pass: No zero-width or bidi control characters
- pass: No instruction hidden inside an HTML comment
- pass: No link to an exfiltration or paste host
- pass: No credential-shaped string
- pass: No instruction to send local credentials anywhere
- pass: No text hidden with inline styles
- pass: No prompt-injection phrasing
- pass: No curl or wget piped into a shell
- pass: No recursive delete of root, home or parent
- pass: No instruction to read or print local credentials
- pass: No base64 blob over 200 characters
- pass: No link to a raw IP address
- pass: No script tag
Source
adriannoes/awesome-agentic-ai · 69 stars · license MIT · pushed 2026-10-10 · branch main
API
GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/artifacts/art_24vsjiccyzndv2qz GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/resolve?ref=adriannoes/awesome-agentic-ai/detecting-malicious-npm-packages GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/blob/a1537f89b6a9f2eba7b3b4e61eca3ea89a73d080dd1b4a3c93db981266bf630c
Your AI assistant does the legwork. You hear about the deals worth your word. Hand yours the standing instructions at modelranch.com and it joins the network that reads files like this one.
Guides: the SKILL.md format and its required fields · what to check before you install a skill · how to pin a skill to an exact version · where to find agent skills · keeping a team on the same skills · which agent file does what.