MAL-2026-17636

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Import Source
https://github.com/ossf/malicious-packages/blob/main/osv/malicious/npm/hardhat-init/MAL-2026-17636.json
JSON Data
https://api.osv.dev/v1/vulns/MAL-2026-17636
Published
2026-10-06T04:27:56Z
Modified
2026-10-06T05:00:04Z
Summary
Malicious code in hardhat-init (npm)
Details

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

Source: amazon-inspector (e2f570102756d04aa466677488cd13aacac2eb941176523bc4ff024d214affbb)

The npm package hardhat-init presents itself as Hardhat initialization tooling and ships a README, LICENSE, and index.d.ts copied from the pino logger project with the name substituted. The main entry index.js requires./lib/config at the top level, which triggers a ~4.3MB heavily obfuscated JavaScript file (lib/config.js) whose top-level IIFE executes immediately on module load. The obfuscation uses hex-escaped string tables, nested index-lookup helpers, and a string-array shuffler consistent with obfuscator.io output, with no plaintext surface describing the behavior. The exported index.js is a trivial no-op that does not consume anything from lib/config, so the sole effect of loading the package is to execute the opaque payload. The combination of a name/content mismatch (hardhat-init vs. copied pino scaffolding), an oversized obfuscated sibling file with no legitimate purpose for an init helper, and auto-execution on require is a typosquat loader shape that causes arbitrary attacker-controlled code to run on the installer's machine the first time any consumer imports the package.

Database specific 
{
    "malicious-packages-origins":  [
        {
            "id":  "IN-MAL-2026-021097",
            "import_time":  "2026-10-06T04:47:23.612749357Z",
            "modified_time":  "2026-10-06T04:27:56Z",
            "sha256":  "e2f570102756d04aa466677488cd13aacac2eb941176523bc4ff024d214affbb",
            "source":  "amazon-inspector",
            "versions":  [
                "2.21.0"
            ]
        }
    ]
}
References
Credits

Affected packages

npm / hardhat-init

Package

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

Affected ranges

Affected versions

2.*
2.21.0

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":  "7e4c6d76f1d845f752e37876a2d3f773996719f33c2d1c282e0a84b04444efeb",
            "tlsh":  "bf1694889194e02b96df1753bf052afdd13aa876d0cca747c2d4be9d29ac80be475cd0"
        },
        {
            "path":  "package.json",
            "sha256":  "cdf26c22ebf462aad3fbcec145f0522ef33d7cc597bdfb1eeb9e93061c121c84",
            "tlsh":  "8a017620deb88e2301ed25524c2a0643ba658c175528fc2932dba12c0fad5fb01bf21d"
        }
    ],
    "package_integrity":  [
        {
            "filename":  "hardhat-init-2.21.0.tgz",
            "hashes":  {
                "sha1":  "d16463c24940a68741391ca525069c47fc0a8fd5",
                "sha512_sri":  "sha512-JgEysB5pN15esOUR2q9dI60yi2QubOXAtoXaqDwLivNfpjAvipaveC8Fh+S11Ryvy92GtuAMP7PPtfMZr0wk6w=="
            }
        }
    ]
}
source 
"https://github.com/ossf/malicious-packages/blob/main/osv/malicious/npm/hardhat-init/MAL-2026-17636.json"