Malicious code in hardhat-plus (npm)

CISA KEV is observed exploitation evidence. FIRST EPSS is a dated prediction of exploitation in the next 30 days. Missing scores are unknown. This collector requests predictions only for explicit CVE aliases in the public NuGet archive; Microsoft release views retain their existing prediction scope.

No collected risk observation for these identifiers. This does not establish absence of exploitation or a zero probability.

--- _-= Per source details. Do not edit below this line.=-_ ## Source: amazon-inspector (02d908da8470ad86669b080d267b57174ccd77e5fd6ed2c371c430d98e869f2b) [email protected] is published under a name resembling the Ethereum development tool 'hardhat' but ships README, type definitions, and docs copied verbatim from the unrelated pino logger project (README.md references npmjs.com/package/pino; index.d.ts references github.com/pinojs/pino.git; package.json description is unrelated boilerplate). The package's main entry index.js requires./lib/config, which is a single ~4.5MB heavily obfuscated file using obfuscator.io transforms: hex-named identifiers, a self-mutating shuffled string-array (while(!![]){...f['push'](f['shift']())}), control-flow flattening, dispatched decode helpers, and pervasive \xNN escape literals. This opaque code runs unconditionally the moment the package is imported. There is no legitimate source, minification story, or documented purpose that accounts for a multi-megabyte obfuscated blob being loaded as a 'config' module in a package that presents itself as either a Hardhat plugin or a pino logger. The combination of name-based impersonation, mismatched cover-story documentation, and an obfuscated payload auto-executed on import is the standard delivery shape for supply-chain malware.

Source published

4 Oct 2026 23:28:23 UTC

Source modified

4 Oct 2026 23:45:16 UTC

Observed here

24 Oct 2026 13:17:17 UTC

Source terms

OSV · upstream source license applies

Original source record · Cite this exact observation · Complete original publisher JSON

This view projects the publisher's source fields for reading; the original JSON retains additional fields and CVE enrichment containers. Attribution: osv · OSV · upstream source license applies. Source text is retained; field grouping and change labels are provided by ChangeIntel.