# MAL-2026-14246: Malicious code in hardhat-hold (npm)


- **Type:** Malicious package
- **Package:** `hardhat-hold` (npm)
- **Published:** 19 Aug 2026
- **Also known as:** GHSA-f33v-qqxm-m6m9

## What is MAL-2026-14246?

MAL-2026-14246 is a malicious package in hardhat-hold, published on 19 Aug 2026. 

### Official description

The package's main entry index.js unconditionally requires./lib/config, which is a ~4MB obfuscator.io-style blob (string array of ~23,981 entries with a rotating decoder and hex-escaped literals). The readable identifiers inside that payload include execSync (child_process) and axios (HTTP client) — the local-execution and outbound-network primitives used by droppers and exfiltration stagers — and the payload runs at import time via a top-level IIFE. The wrapper index.js copies the pino logger API surface but never uses the config export; its only effect is to force the obfuscated blob to load on require(). The package name hardhat-hold is a one-token variant of the Ethereum tooling package hardhat, while the README impersonates the pino logger (including shields.io badges that still point at pino's repository), and package.json carries an unrelated boilerplate description about vulnerability management. The combination of name/README/description mismatch with an obfuscated import-time payload carrying shell-exec + HTTP primitives is the canonical typosquat-dropper shape.

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.

## What should I do about MAL-2026-14246?

Remove the package from your dependencies and lockfiles, then rotate any secrets on machines where it was installed.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
MAL-2026-14246 is a malicious package: hardhat-hold (npm). Every version was published to cause harm.

Task:
1. Search this repository's dependency manifests and lockfiles for the package, including transitive dependencies.
2. If it is present, remove it, regenerate the lockfile with the project's package manager, and replace whatever it was used for.
3. List any CI runners, developer machines or containers that installed it, so their secrets can be rotated.
4. If the package is not used anywhere, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/MAL-2026-14246/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/MAL-2026-14246/index.md)
```

## Sources

- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/MAL-2026-14246

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/MAL-2026-14246/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.