chrolog-iohook
chrolog-iohook is a library that provides an interface for hooking into mouse and keyboard events in Node.js. It allows you to set callbacks for mouse and keyboard events and provides a logging functionality.
This library is based on the keylogs program with modifications to handle mouse events.
Installation
To install chrolog-iohook, use npm:
npm install chrolog-iohook
Note:
- Root privileges are required to use this library under linux.
Usage
import ChrologIOhook from 'chrolog-iohook'
// Create an instance of ChrologIOhook
const instance = new ChrologIOhook()
// Set keyboard callback
instance.setKeyboardCallback((key) => {
console.log('Keyboard callback:', key)
})
instance.setMouseCallback((event, value) => {
console.log('Mouse callback:', event, value)
})
//Start the logger
instance.log()
console.log('Logging keys...')
setTimeout(() => {
console.log('Stopping logger...')
instance.stop()
}, 10000)Security and Interprocess Communication
To enhance security it is recommended to execute the sensitive portion of the code in a separate process with elevated privileges. This approach helps isolate the privileged operations and restricts potential security risks.
Be cautious of potential permission issues when granting read and write access to everyone, as it could allow unauthorized individuals to potentially read your keyboard inputs without requiring root privileges.
If you discover an alternative method, kindly inform me as IPC (Inter-Process Communication) does not function with sudo-prompt.
Here's an example of how you can refactor the code to run the privileged section in a separate process:
main.js
import sudo from 'sudo-prompt'
import fs from 'fs'
import { exec } from 'child_process'
exec('which node', (error, stdout, stderr) => {
if (error) {
console.log(`error: ${error.message}`)
return
}
if (stderr) {
console.log(`stderr: ${stderr}`)
return
}
const nodePath = stdout.trim()
const scriptPath = './hookLinuxInputs.js'
const tempFilePath = './ipc_temp_file.txt'
const command = `${nodePath} ${scriptPath} -- --tempFile ${tempFilePath}`
sudo.exec(command, options, (error, stdout) => {
if (error) {
console.log('Error executing child process:', error)
} else {
console.log('Child process output:', stdout)
}
})
fs.writeFileSync(tempFilePath, '')
let fileContent = ''
fs.watchFile(tempFilePath, { persistent: true, interval: 50 }, (curr, prev) => {
fs.readFile(tempFilePath, 'utf8', (error, data) => {
if (error) {
console.log('Error reading file:', error)
return
}
fileContent += data
const messages = fileContent.split('\n')
messages.forEach((message) => {
const trimmedMessage = message.trim()
console.log('Message:', trimmedMessage)
// Parse your message here
fileContent = ''
})
})
})
})hookLinuxInputs.js
import { exec } from 'child_process'
import ChrologIOhook from 'chrolog-iohook'
import fs from 'fs'
const tempFilePath =
process.argv[
process.argv.findIndex((arg, index) => arg === '--tempFile' && process.argv[index + 1]) + 1
]
fs.writeFileSync(tempFilePath, '')
exec(`chmod +rw ${tempFilePath}`, (error) => {
if (error) {
console.error(error)
process.exit(1)
}
})
// Function to send message to the parent process
function send(message) {
fs.writeFileSync(tempFilePath, message)
}
console.log('Creating instance...')
const instance = new ChrologIOhook()
console.log('Hooking inputs...')
// Set keyboard callback
instance.setKeyboardCallback(() => {
send('keyboard_event')
})
console.log('Hooking mouse...')
instance.setMouseCallback(() => {
send('mouse_event')
})
console.log('Starting logger...')
// Start the logger
instance.log()
console.log('Inputs hooked')
// Cleanup the temp file on exit
process.on('exit', () => {
if (fs.existsSync(tempFilePath)) {
fs.unlinkSync(tempFilePath)
}
})API
ChrologIOhook
The ChrologIOhook class represents the main interface for setting mouse and keyboard callbacks and logging.
ChrologIOhook.setMouseCallback(callback: function)
Sets the callback function for mouse events.
-
callback(function): A function that will be called whenever a mouse event occurs. The callback function should accept a single parameter, which will be the event object containing information about the mouse event.
ChrologIOhook.setKeyboardCallback(callback: function)
Sets the callback function for keyboard events.
-
callback(function): A function that will be called whenever a keyboard event occurs. The callback function should accept a single parameter, which will be the event object containing information about the keyboard event.
ChrologIOhook.log(): Promise
Starts logging mouse and keyboard events. Returns a promise that resolves when logging is started successfully or rejects with an error if logging fails.
ChrologIOhook.stop(): void
Stops the logging of mouse and keyboard events.
This method stops the logger and ceases the recording of mouse and keyboard events. Once called, the callbacks for mouse and keyboard events will no longer be triggered.
Development
To build the chrolog-iohook library from source, you need to have the following dependencies installed:
- N-API (Node.js addon API)
- C++ compiler
To build the library, run the following commands:
sudo apt-get install libinput-dev
npm install
npm run build
The built library will be located in the build/Release directory.
License
This library is licensed under the GNU License. See the LICENSE file for more information.