MAL-2026-17233
Vulnerability from ossf_malicious_packages
-= Per source details. Do not edit below this line.=-
Source: amazon-inspector (035a099bd6a60e41f1e1cbc1b70f27fecb9bef3f12d54e016d6991b581fc880f)
The npm package hardhat-lock@2.21.0 publishes itself as a logger/middleware but its identity and contents are inconsistent with that purpose: README badges, LICENSE, index.d.ts and docs/* are copied from the unrelated pino project (maintained by pinojs), while the package name squats the Ethereum-tooling keyword 'hardhat'. index.js unconditionally executes require('./lib/config') at module load, and lib/config.js is a ~4MB obfuscator.io-style single-line file (rotated string array of 23,981 entries, hex-escaped tokens, numeric wrapper decoders mt/mw/M0..M5/K/R/s/G, control-flow flattening, and 40,131 inline decoder replacements confirmed by webcrack) whose top-level IIFE runs the moment any downstream code does require('hardhat-lock'). The combination — impersonation of an established package under a different scope-adjacent name, opaque multi-megabyte obfuscated blob with no plausible logging use, and guaranteed import-time execution — is a supply-chain payload carrier: installing and loading the package places attacker-controlled code inside the consumer's Node.js process with unrestricted access to environment variables, filesystem, and network.
- CWE-506 - The product contains code that appears to be malicious in nature.
{
"affected": [
{
"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": "3a7f87ca7f738984bd7918a88da35a9898a491fd969e4ff43e619b25f2394abb",
"tlsh": "f0168345b287bc2742cf2663be0139ec7467656284c8a18bcb56bd1d35bc80bd9e6fd0"
},
{
"path": "package.json",
"sha256": "41f964a7bcd40ce7bba7db5637bf1b8042f369f6f593d5fffac7444da14025d7",
"tlsh": "58017620deb88e2301ed25524c2a0643b6618c175528fc2932dba12c4f9d5ff11bf22d"
}
],
"package_integrity": [
{
"filename": "hardhat-lock-2.21.0.tgz",
"hashes": {
"sha1": "b036b5f9842b331a904a85fbe25837250f4b98b7",
"sha512_sri": "sha512-ttehUm7EVQpEfmbHPky/yKcqxlZCqW754j8GJA4b8cTesVq+1qkaUy0i5ESIJGhs/vk9cchNrfWad9hcLykTDg=="
}
}
]
}
},
"package": {
"ecosystem": "npm",
"name": "hardhat-lock"
},
"versions": [
"2.21.0"
]
}
],
"credits": [
{
"contact": [
"inspector-research@amazon.com"
],
"name": "Amazon Inspector",
"type": "FINDER"
}
],
"database_specific": {
"malicious-packages-origins": [
{
"id": "IN-MAL-2026-020620",
"import_time": "2026-09-28T22:18:23.506719528Z",
"modified_time": "2026-09-28T22:06:53Z",
"sha256": "035a099bd6a60e41f1e1cbc1b70f27fecb9bef3f12d54e016d6991b581fc880f",
"source": "amazon-inspector",
"versions": [
"2.21.0"
]
}
]
},
"details": "\n---\n_-= Per source details. Do not edit below this line.=-_\n\n## Source: amazon-inspector (035a099bd6a60e41f1e1cbc1b70f27fecb9bef3f12d54e016d6991b581fc880f)\nThe npm package hardhat-lock@2.21.0 publishes itself as a logger/middleware but its identity and contents are inconsistent with that purpose: README badges, LICENSE, index.d.ts and docs/* are copied from the unrelated pino project (maintained by pinojs), while the package name squats the Ethereum-tooling keyword \u0027hardhat\u0027. index.js unconditionally executes require(\u0027./lib/config\u0027) at module load, and lib/config.js is a ~4MB obfuscator.io-style single-line file (rotated string array of 23,981 entries, hex-escaped tokens, numeric wrapper decoders mt/mw/M0..M5/K/R/s/G, control-flow flattening, and 40,131 inline decoder replacements confirmed by webcrack) whose top-level IIFE runs the moment any downstream code does require(\u0027hardhat-lock\u0027). The combination \u2014 impersonation of an established package under a different scope-adjacent name, opaque multi-megabyte obfuscated blob with no plausible logging use, and guaranteed import-time execution \u2014 is a supply-chain payload carrier: installing and loading the package places attacker-controlled code inside the consumer\u0027s Node.js process with unrestricted access to environment variables, filesystem, and network.\n",
"id": "MAL-2026-17233",
"modified": "2026-09-28T22:06:53Z",
"published": "2026-09-28T22:06:53Z",
"references": [
{
"type": "PACKAGE",
"url": "https://www.npmjs.com/package/hardhat-lock/v/2.21.0"
}
],
"schema_version": "1.7.4",
"summary": "Malicious code in hardhat-lock (npm)"
}
Sightings
| Author | Source | Type | Date | Other |
|---|
Nomenclature
- Seen: The vulnerability was mentioned, discussed, or observed by the user.
- Confirmed: The vulnerability has been validated from an analyst's perspective.
- Published Proof of Concept: A public proof of concept is available for this vulnerability.
- Exploited: The vulnerability was observed as exploited by the user who reported the sighting.
- Patched: The vulnerability was observed as successfully patched by the user who reported the sighting.
- Not exploited: The vulnerability was not observed as exploited by the user who reported the sighting.
- Not confirmed: The user expressed doubt about the validity of the vulnerability.
- Not patched: The vulnerability was not observed as successfully patched by the user who reported the sighting.
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Related by attack behaviour
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