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Part of a larger attack: @wethenorth12 published 23 malicious packages. See the full campaign →
Malicious package

@wethenorth12/web3-provider-enginenpm

Advisory published Updated

@wethenorth12/web3-provider-engine is a confirmed malicious npm package (MAL-2026-12106) that steals credentials and exfiltrates sensitive data (malicious version 16.0.5). Do not install it — remove it immediately and rotate any exposed credentials.

Malicious code in @wethenorth12/web3-provider-engine (npm)

MAL-2026-12106
Immediate action
Remove the package, then rotate any secrets the build/runtime could reach.
npm uninstall @wethenorth12/web3-provider-engine

What this malware does

Package name mimics MetaMask's official web3-provider-engine and its README advertises a drop-in replacement, but the exported API (connect/createWallet/generateMnemonic) is a hollow stub — generateMnemonic returns crypto.randomBytes(32).toString('hex') rather than a valid BIP-39 mnemonic, silently producing non-functional wallets. On module load via the declared main (index.js), the package reads the entire process.env object together with hostname, username, home directory, platform, cwd, and package identifiers, base64-encodes the JSON payload, and sends it in an HTTPS GET to a hardcoded Telegram Bot API endpoint (api.telegram.org, bot ID 7231970337, chat_id 8969499041). A marker file (.npi-<random>) in the OS temp directory suppresses repeat sends per host. Bulk enumeration of process.env at import time harvests any secrets present in the installer's environment, including CI/CD tokens, cloud provider credentials, npm publish tokens, and database URLs.

Malicious versions

1 flagged
16.0.5

Indicators of compromise (SHA-256)

0f54c89c6e669f4a9e1e2939e09b5ac809507f98df451e239add607d417f394a

Detection & response playbook

Credential / info stealer

  1. Find it

    Search your lockfiles and build artifacts for @wethenorth12/web3-provider-engine (version 16.0.5).

  2. If you installed it — respond

    @wethenorth12/web3-provider-engine is built to steal secrets, so assume every credential the build or runtime could read is compromised. Remove it from your project and lockfile, then rotate ALL exposed secrets — npm/registry tokens, cloud keys, CI/CD secrets, SSH keys, and any .env values — from a known-clean machine. Audit logs for unauthorized use of those credentials.

  3. Did it already run?

    If @wethenorth12/web3-provider-engine was installed, its post-install payload may already have run. Removing the package does not undo that — check outbound connections and credential use from the install window onward.

Frequently asked questions

No. @wethenorth12/web3-provider-engine on npm has been identified as a malicious package (version 16.0.5 flagged). It should be removed immediately — do not install or keep it in your dependency tree.

Campaign

IN-MAL-2026-013435

References

Credits

  • Amazon Inspector · finder

Detect & block this

O3 blocks @wethenorth12/web3-provider-engine-class packages before install and in CI — and if it already ran, its runtime egress monitoring catches the credential exfiltration and severs the channel.

Malware detection Runtime egress monitoring

Explore

All malware advisories How O3 detects malware Vulnerability database
@wethenorth12/web3-provider-engine (npm) malicious package — MAL-2026-12106 | O3 Security