NPM Supply Chain - Suspicious @vibetonomy/agent-win-x64 Package Install or Execution
This rule watches for a Windows binary distributed through a scoped NPM package called @vibetonomy/agent-win-x64 that claims to be an 'agent binary.' No verified publisher exists for this package, and shipping a compiled executable through NPM is a known way to sneak malicious code into a developer's machine or a CI pipeline.
How the attack works
An attacker publishes the package to the public NPM registry under the @vibetonomy scope, describing it as a Windows x64 agent binary. A developer or an automated build system adds it as a dependency and runs an install, pulling down the package and its bundled executable. Once installed, the binary can run with whatever privileges the installing user or CI process has. The rule catches this by watching for npm/yarn/pnpm install commands that mention the package name, or for a process spawned from a file path inside that package's node_modules folder.
Netzilo detection
Netzilo reports this behaviour when it is observed.
- Signature ID
- 6d4e8a2f-9c1b-4a7e-8f3d-2b6c9e1a4d57
- Severity
- Medium
Why it matters
If installed and executed, the bundled binary runs with the privileges of the developer or CI system that pulled it in, giving an attacker code execution on that machine or build pipeline — a foothold that can lead to credential theft, source code tampering, or further lateral movement.
What you can do
- →Search your package.json, lockfiles, and CI logs for any reference to @vibetonomy/agent-win-x64 and remove it if found.
- →Block installation of unscoped or unverified packages claiming to ship compiled binaries; require manual review for any dependency that includes an .exe.
- →Restrict what CI/build agents can execute after `npm install` — run installs in a sandboxed or network-isolated environment where possible.
- →If the package was installed, treat the host and any credentials or secrets available to that process as potentially compromised and rotate them.
Known benign look-alikes
- Security or dependency-audit tooling running read-only npm/yarn/pnpm verbs (ls, list, view, show, audit, outdated, why, pack, info, explain) against the package name to check for its presence, without installing or executing anything.
- A developer or CI pipeline running an install with --dry-run to preview what would be installed, without the package's binary ever executing.
- A QA or red-team test harness that intentionally spawns a dummy file at a path matching node_modules/@vibetonomy/agent-win-x64/*.exe solely to validate this detection rule, with no real payload involved.