{"id":"MAL-2026-17234","summary":"Malicious code in hardhat-zet (npm)","details":"\n---\n_-= Per source details. Do not edit below this line.=-_\n\n## Source: amazon-inspector (37cd33c0908189c0085fba153be1c42776411968aa5ad652dd7ffdef88b318bc)\nhardhat-zet@2.0.1 is published under a name that impersonates the Hardhat Ethereum tooling ecosystem, but its README, type definitions and docs/ tree are copied verbatim from the unrelated `pino` logger project (badges and links point at npmjs.com/package/pino and github.com/pinojs/pino). The exported `middleware` in index.js is a no-op Express middleware and matches neither the `hardhat-zet` name nor the pino README. The package's declared main (index.js) top-level-requires./lib/config, which is not a configuration file but a 4,498,609-byte obfuscator.io-style bundle: a 26,113-entry rotated string array behind two runtime decoders (functions v and F), hex-encoded identifiers, and control-flow flattening. All strings and destination URLs are hidden behind the decoders, so this code runs automatically on any `require('hardhat-zet')` and its behavior is not observable without deobfuscation. Publisher metadata (author 'Robert King \u003chello@jsonspack.com\u003e', bugs URL https://jsonspack.com/issues) ties to neither the Hardhat nor the pino identity. The combination — ecosystem-typosquat name targeting crypto/Hardhat developers, cover-story README lifted from an unrelated popular package, no-op public API, and a multi-megabyte obfuscated payload auto-executed on import — is the shape of a supply-chain stealer aimed at Ethereum developers.\n","modified":"2026-09-28T22:30:06.658622473Z","published":"2026-09-28T22:07:01Z","database_specific":{"malicious-packages-origins":[{"import_time":"2026-09-28T22:18:23.581496614Z","modified_time":"2026-09-28T22:07:01Z","sha256":"37cd33c0908189c0085fba153be1c42776411968aa5ad652dd7ffdef88b318bc","source":"amazon-inspector","versions":["2.0.1"],"id":"IN-MAL-2026-020621"}]},"references":[{"type":"PACKAGE","url":"https://www.npmjs.com/package/hardhat-zet/v/2.0.1"}],"affected":[{"package":{"name":"hardhat-zet","ecosystem":"npm","purl":"pkg:npm/hardhat-zet"},"versions":["2.0.1"],"database_specific":{"source":"https://github.com/ossf/malicious-packages/blob/main/osv/malicious/npm/hardhat-zet/MAL-2026-17234.json","cwes":[{"description":"The product contains code that appears to be malicious in nature.","name":"Embedded Malicious Code","cweId":"CWE-506"}],"indicators":{"evidence_files":[{"sha256":"6d06757f9ab4a23c5f09b416308cff0322ada95f0484ec4c76386cfb6898a17d","tlsh":"b32670ca1681f36397dd2713bf19a9e8e02e9ce19888f247d15e7d4d69ec11bc1a0de0","path":"lib/config.js"},{"path":"README.md","sha256":"c06dbdc49dd2b00aa4a2e42b8096e2b00ade911b28e5f9c2ddc108fe64bd0cb8","tlsh":"0a41a56787e47fbe5b6301b2d1c275a9ff1fd31c3f6a60b9d99c812d13185a2813220a"},{"tlsh":"ca017620deb88e2301ed29424c2a0643baa58c175528fc2933dba12c0f9d5fb41bf22d","path":"package.json","sha256":"1ce0376fd8b945eda3c1fb466d3acc39347cb6506f825365f8d3b7262bb923d5"}],"package_integrity":[{"filename":"hardhat-zet-2.0.1.tgz","hashes":{"sha1":"6742e955c2505a00854a0e3a2e5d1ed507b0bbb5","sha512_sri":"sha512-lSUUCgdQXRx28zGPhrJNpZ/N8vuLFdaIGTWaBcpBnaQeMM86BScDFJD3zdSqexHxkXsu+HIvloKWsMMIbPkIKA=="}}]}}}],"schema_version":"1.9.0","credits":[{"name":"Amazon Inspector","contact":["inspector-research@amazon.com"],"type":"FINDER"}]}