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Malicious package

hardhat-capnpm

Advisory published Updated

hardhat-cap is a confirmed malicious npm package (MAL-2026-13616) that typosquats a legitimate package to trick installs (malicious version 2.21.1). Do not install it — remove it immediately and rotate any exposed credentials.

Malicious code in hardhat-cap (npm)

MAL-2026-13616
Immediate action
Remove the package, then rotate any secrets the build/runtime could reach.
npm uninstall hardhat-cap

What this malware does

The package is published as hardhat-cap but its README, LICENSE, index.d.ts, and lib/proto.js / lib/tools.js are a verbatim copy of the pino logger, with author metadata pointing at jsonspack.com. index.js unconditionally does const config = require('./lib/config');, and lib/config.js is a ~4 MB single-line obfuscator.io-transformed module (rotated string array of ~23,931 entries, dual decoders, RC4+base64 string decoding, control-flow flattening) whose top-level IIFE self-invokes at load time. Requiring the package executes this opaque payload on the installer's host at import time; the surrounding pino code is unrelated cover. A logger has no need for a multi-megabyte obfuscated self-decoding blob, and the name/contents mismatch (Hardhat-themed name, pino source, obfuscated third module) is consistent with a typosquat lure that drops arbitrary code execution into consumers on require.

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.

Malicious versions

1 flagged
2.21.1

Indicators of compromise (SHA-256)

f3d9de53c9b5916edf45f9055ecdb2fbdd0752cfe7779f37c7d294a16788faf8
ccce44942655178e47726747129cc46b08ececfec2b88cedbbc258f1d5edb54f

Detection & response playbook

Typosquat
  1. Find it

    Search your lockfiles and build artifacts for hardhat-cap (version 2.21.1).

  2. If you installed it — respond

    hardhat-cap is a typosquat — you almost certainly intended a legitimately-named package. Remove hardhat-cap, install the correct package, and rotate any secrets exposed during the install since post-install scripts may have already run.

  3. Did it already run?

    If hardhat-cap 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. hardhat-cap on npm has been identified as a malicious package (version 2.21.1 flagged). It should be removed immediately — do not install or keep it in your dependency tree.

Campaign

IN-MAL-2026-017106GHSA-3jrx-49jf-x2rp

References

Credits

  • Amazon Inspector · finder

Detect & block this

O3 blocks hardhat-cap-class packages before install and in CI — and if it already ran, its runtime egress monitoring catches the malicious outbound activity and severs the channel.

Explore

hardhat-cap (npm) malicious package — MAL-2026-13616 | O3 Security