MAL-2026-10613 Malicious code in ethereum-lib-utils (npm)

Package [email protected] impersonates the widely-used ethereumjs-util library: the package name, README badge, repository, homepage, and author metadata all point at the legitimate ethereumjs project, and the code is a lightly-modified copy of ethereumjs-util. The Node build at dist/index.js contains a bare require("assertion-utils-js") with no assignment — the return value is discarded, so the sole purpose of the statement is to execute that dependency's code when a consumer imports the library. This require is absent from the TypeScript source (src/index.ts) and from the browser build (dist.browser/index.js); it appears only in the Node dist, indicating deliberate injection into the shipped Node artifact. Consumers who require('ethereum-lib-utils') transitively load and execute assertion-utils-js at import time; the actual payload is carried by that unusually-named dependency rather than by this package's own code.

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.