# MAL-2026-17234: Malicious code in hardhat-zet (npm)


- **Type:** Malicious package
- **Package:** `hardhat-zet` (npm)
- **Published:** 28 Sep 2026
- **Also known as:** GHSA-mw8r-6m3f-qmg8

## What is MAL-2026-17234?

MAL-2026-17234 is a malicious package in hardhat-zet, published on 28 Sep 2026. 

### Official description

hardhat-zet@2.0.1 is published under a name that impersonates the Hardhat Ethereum tooling ecosystem, but its README, type definitions and docs/ tree are copied verbatim from the unrelated `pino` logger project (badges and links point at npmjs.com/package/pino and github.com/pinojs/pino). The exported `middleware` in index.js is a no-op Express middleware and matches neither the `hardhat-zet` name nor the pino README. The package's declared main (index.js) top-level-requires./lib/config, which is not a configuration file but a 4,498,609-byte obfuscator.io-style bundle: a 26,113-entry rotated string array behind two runtime decoders (functions v and F), hex-encoded identifiers, and control-flow flattening. All strings and destination URLs are hidden behind the decoders, so this code runs automatically on any `require('hardhat-zet')` and its behavior is not observable without deobfuscation. Publisher metadata (author 'Robert King <hello@jsonspack.com>', bugs URL https://jsonspack.com/issues) ties to neither the Hardhat nor the pino identity. The combination — ecosystem-typosquat name targeting crypto/Hardhat developers, cover-story README lifted from an unrelated popular package, no-op public API, and a multi-megabyte obfuscated payload auto-executed on import — is the shape of a supply-chain stealer aimed at Ethereum developers.

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-2026-17234?

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-2026-17234 is a malicious package: hardhat-zet (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-2026-17234/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/MAL-2026-17234/index.md)
```

## Sources

- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/MAL-2026-17234

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From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/MAL-2026-17234/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.