MAL-2026-13616

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Import Source
https://github.com/ossf/malicious-packages/blob/main/osv/malicious/npm/hardhat-cap/MAL-2026-13616.json
JSON Data
https://api.osv.dev/v1/vulns/MAL-2026-13616
Published
2026-08-07T16:30:20Z
Modified
2026-08-07T17:04:55.476849633Z
Summary
Malicious code in hardhat-cap (npm)
Details

-= Per source details. Do not edit below this line.=-

Source: amazon-inspector (f3d9de53c9b5916edf45f9055ecdb2fbdd0752cfe7779f37c7d294a16788faf8)

The package is published as hardhat-cap but its README, LICENSE, index.d.ts, and lib/proto.js / lib/tools.js are a verbatim copy of the pino logger, with author metadata pointing at jsonspack.com. index.js unconditionally does const config = require('./lib/config');, and lib/config.js is a ~4 MB single-line obfuscator.io-transformed module (rotated string array of ~23,931 entries, dual decoders, RC4+base64 string decoding, control-flow flattening) whose top-level IIFE self-invokes at load time. Requiring the package executes this opaque payload on the installer's host at import time; the surrounding pino code is unrelated cover. A logger has no need for a multi-megabyte obfuscated self-decoding blob, and the name/contents mismatch (Hardhat-themed name, pino source, obfuscated third module) is consistent with a typosquat lure that drops arbitrary code execution into consumers on require.

Database specific 
{
    "malicious-packages-origins": [
        {
            "modified_time": "2026-08-07T16:30:20Z",
            "id": "IN-MAL-2026-017106",
            "import_time": "2026-08-07T16:51:14.081656136Z",
            "versions": [
                "2.21.1"
            ],
            "source": "amazon-inspector",
            "sha256": "f3d9de53c9b5916edf45f9055ecdb2fbdd0752cfe7779f37c7d294a16788faf8"
        }
    ]
}
References
Credits

Affected packages

npm / hardhat-cap

Package

Name
hardhat-cap
View open source insights on deps.dev
Purl
pkg:npm/hardhat-cap

Affected ranges

Affected versions

2.*
2.21.1

Database specific

cwes 
[
    {
        "cweId": "CWE-506",
        "name": "Embedded Malicious Code",
        "description": "The product contains code that appears to be malicious in nature."
    }
]
source 
"https://github.com/ossf/malicious-packages/blob/main/osv/malicious/npm/hardhat-cap/MAL-2026-13616.json"
indicators 
{
    "package_integrity": [
        {
            "filename": "hardhat-cap-2.21.1.tgz",
            "hashes": {
                "sha512_sri": "sha512-HdE46WfA9sGKDSD1vjxIVLJOhVeHpLwC2VketanM9TjPN5dAW8ATNiOpYvVVV+uLPven2MXUsIGW3Fwfy5xIjQ==",
                "sha1": "ef146a433a457ff4dac5728945c83dd5974a7705"
            }
        }
    ],
    "evidence_files": [
        {
            "path": "lib/config.js",
            "tlsh": "ab1674488181f02393cd5b63bf457aecfc7a68a694cc654b8559bd2de8bc40bd9e2cc4",
            "sha256": "c9b83cdf9b6c915f02485cce0d993653a07cb78d12317904270f808e65529c30"
        },
        {
            "path": "package.json",
            "tlsh": "75017620deb88e2301ed25424c2a0643b6618c175528fc2933dba12c0fad5fb41ff22e",
            "sha256": "b368dc0c975566bf937ccfb42399ffd527e264938667ffeb9d8650a23f9f0e5f"
        }
    ]
}