MAL-2026-17234

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Import Source
https://github.com/ossf/malicious-packages/blob/main/osv/malicious/npm/hardhat-zet/MAL-2026-17234.json
JSON Data
https://api.osv.dev/v1/vulns/MAL-2026-17234
Published
2026-09-28T22:07:01Z
Modified
2026-09-28T22:30:06Z
Summary
Malicious code in hardhat-zet (npm)
Details

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

Source: amazon-inspector (37cd33c0908189c0085fba153be1c42776411968aa5ad652dd7ffdef88b318bc)

hardhat-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 hello@jsonspack.com', 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.

Database specific 
{
    "malicious-packages-origins":  [
        {
            "id":  "IN-MAL-2026-020621",
            "import_time":  "2026-09-28T22:18:23.581496614Z",
            "modified_time":  "2026-09-28T22:07:01Z",
            "sha256":  "37cd33c0908189c0085fba153be1c42776411968aa5ad652dd7ffdef88b318bc",
            "source":  "amazon-inspector",
            "versions":  [
                "2.0.1"
            ]
        }
    ]
}
References
Credits

Affected packages

npm / hardhat-zet

Package

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

Affected ranges

Affected versions

2.*
2.0.1

Database specific

cwes 
[
    {
        "cweId":  "CWE-506",
        "description":  "The product contains code that appears to be malicious in nature.",
        "name":  "Embedded Malicious Code"
    }
]
indicators 
{
    "evidence_files":  [
        {
            "path":  "lib/config.js",
            "sha256":  "6d06757f9ab4a23c5f09b416308cff0322ada95f0484ec4c76386cfb6898a17d",
            "tlsh":  "b32670ca1681f36397dd2713bf19a9e8e02e9ce19888f247d15e7d4d69ec11bc1a0de0"
        },
        {
            "path":  "README.md",
            "sha256":  "c06dbdc49dd2b00aa4a2e42b8096e2b00ade911b28e5f9c2ddc108fe64bd0cb8",
            "tlsh":  "0a41a56787e47fbe5b6301b2d1c275a9ff1fd31c3f6a60b9d99c812d13185a2813220a"
        },
        {
            "path":  "package.json",
            "sha256":  "1ce0376fd8b945eda3c1fb466d3acc39347cb6506f825365f8d3b7262bb923d5",
            "tlsh":  "ca017620deb88e2301ed29424c2a0643baa58c175528fc2933dba12c0f9d5fb41bf22d"
        }
    ],
    "package_integrity":  [
        {
            "filename":  "hardhat-zet-2.0.1.tgz",
            "hashes":  {
                "sha1":  "6742e955c2505a00854a0e3a2e5d1ed507b0bbb5",
                "sha512_sri":  "sha512-lSUUCgdQXRx28zGPhrJNpZ/N8vuLFdaIGTWaBcpBnaQeMM86BScDFJD3zdSqexHxkXsu+HIvloKWsMMIbPkIKA=="
            }
        }
    ]
}
source 
"https://github.com/ossf/malicious-packages/blob/main/osv/malicious/npm/hardhat-zet/MAL-2026-17234.json"