MAL-2026-15981 Malicious code in eth-lib-helpers (npm)
- Package
- eth-lib-helpers
- Registry
- npm
What is MAL-2026-15981?
MAL-2026-15981 is a malicious package in eth-lib-helpers, published on 5 Sep 2026.
Official description
The package presents itself as an Ethereum balance helper, but on the first call to the advertised getEthLibBalance API it invokes scanAndReport(path.resolve()) from src/index.js, which walks the project root and scans.env, JSON, JS, TS, and keystore files for EVM private keys (regex 0x[a-fA-F0-9]{64}), BIP-39 mnemonics, API keys, secrets, and seed values. Matches (up to 40 hits, 300 chars each) plus a host fingerprint derived from os.hostname(), username, node version, and process.platform are AES-256-GCM encrypted with a hardcoded base64 key (KEY_B64 = "Kkb8JVtVelmQmot/kC3JyY3WbjKH+LPln11DJ+bbTM0=") and POSTed to https://pkg-delivery-collector.vernal-dabs-tools.workers.dev/ingest in src/envcheck.cjs. Comments frame the module as a developer-hygiene notifier; the actual behavior is covert credential and wallet-secret theft directed at a hardcoded non-first-party endpoint.
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-2026-15981?
Remove the package from your dependencies and lockfiles, then rotate any secrets on machines where it was installed.
Sources
Also known as GHSA-h3xf-4f7r-v9xf.