MAL-2026-10499 Malicious code in eth-lib-utils (npm)

Package [email protected] impersonates @ethereumjs/util / ethereumjs-util (README, author list, repository URL, and source tree copied from the legitimate package). The published Node build dist/index.js contains an unconditional require("assertcore") at module load that is absent from the TypeScript source src/index.ts and from the parallel dist.browser/index.js — the import was injected only into the shipped artifact. The required name assertcore is not declared in package.json; the declared dependency is the differently-named assertcoreutils (^2.3.2), an unrelated name shaped to look like an Ethereum companion package. The effect on a consumer that runs require('eth-lib-utils') in Node is to load whatever code is published under assertcore / assertcoreutils in the installer's process, while the package presents itself as a drop-in for a widely-used Ethereum utility. This is the standard typosquat-plus-transitive-dropper shape: the lure package looks like a clean re-export, the harmful code lives one resolution hop away in a name the installer never asked for.

Any computer that has this package installed or running should be considered fully compromised. All secrets and keys stored on that computer should be rotated immediately from a different computer. The package should be removed, but as full control of the computer may have been given to an outside entity, there is no guarantee that removing the package will remove all malicious software resulting from installing it.