Malicious code in hardhat-hold (npm)
hardhat-hold is a typosquatting package impersonating hardhat (Ethereum tooling) and pino (logger). It contains a ~4MB obfuscated payload that executes at import time, exposing shell execution and HTTP client primitives for dropper/exfiltration activity.
- Disclosed
- Last updated
- Blast radius
- Any developer or system that installed hardhat-hold from npm
- Ecosystems
- Attack vectors
- Affected entities
- hardhat-holdnpm package
The npm package hardhat-hold is a malicious typosquat variant of the legitimate hardhat Ethereum development tool. The package name is a one-token variant designed to deceive developers, and its README and metadata impersonate the pino logger library, including shields.io badges pointing to pino's repository.\n\nThe package's main entry point (index.js) unconditionally requires a ~4MB obfuscated blob (obfuscator.io-style with a string array of ~23,981 entries and rotating decoder). This payload executes at import time via a top-level IIFE and contains readable identifiers for execSync (child_process) and axios (HTTP client)—the canonical primitives used by dropper and exfiltration stagers.\n\nThe wrapper index.js mimics the pino logger API surface but never actually uses the config export; its sole purpose is to force the obfuscated payload to load on require(). The combination of name/README/description mismatch with an obfuscated import-time payload carrying shell-execution and HTTP capabilities matches the canonical typosquat-dropper attack pattern.\n\nThe malicious package was identified by the OpenSSF malicious-packages project (MAL-2026-14246).
Indicators of compromise
- Packages
- hardhat-hold
Remediation
- Immediately uninstall hardhat-hold from all systems and projects
- Audit npm install logs and dependency trees to identify all systems that may have installed this package
- Assume any system that installed hardhat-hold has been compromised; review process execution logs, network connections, and file modifications from the installation time onward
- Rotate credentials and API keys on any affected systems
- Use npm audit to check for other malicious packages in your dependency tree
- Verify the legitimacy of hardhat and pino packages by checking their official repositories and maintainers
Sources
- GitHub Advisory GHSA-rc6j-6f8f-vvwr · GitHub Advisory Database
Cite this entry
"Malicious code in hardhat-hold (npm)." supplychainattack.org, Supply Chain Attack Incident Catalog. Disclosed August 19, 2026; last updated August 19, 2026. https://supplychainattack.org/incident/malicious-code-in-hardhat-hold-npm-15e6lq
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