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Malicious package

hardhat-gas-profiler-pluginnpm

Advisory published Updated

hardhat-gas-profiler-plugin is a confirmed malicious npm package (MAL-2026-4244) that opens a backdoor for remote access (malicious version 1.7.86). Do not install it — remove it immediately and rotate any exposed credentials.

Malicious code in hardhat-gas-profiler-plugin (npm)

MAL-2026-4244
Immediate action
Remove the package, then rotate any secrets the build/runtime could reach.
npm uninstall hardhat-gas-profiler-plugin

What this malware does

Package impersonates the Hardhat plugin ecosystem (real Hardhat plugins are published under @nomicfoundation/*; the referenced github.com/hardhat/... repo is not owned by the Hardhat org). The package's index.js is a no-op stub that only requires hardhat and provides no real plugin functionality. At install time, package.json declares a postinstall hook that runs an inline node -e invoking https.get against rqnyz-2605-7280-7--2000-c51.run.pinggy-free.link/npm/-/binary/telemetry — an anonymous Pinggy reverse-tunnel hostname not affiliated with any publisher. Errors are swallowed via try/catch to keep the install silent. The beacon leaks installer source IP, install timing, and User-Agent to the tunnel operator and serves as a reachability/recon callback for follow-up targeting. Combined with placeholder author metadata (Web3 Developer Tools <[email protected]>) and the typosquat name, this is an attacker-shell package, not a real Hardhat plugin.

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
1.7.86

Indicators of compromise (SHA-256)

0659fba11bafbc32d157d3904df5d8c29e0f135def7730f8fe5575f8daba0316
c21e0ec3571fccc81c8e047835e84f75b6f0d95e2e4ee7e3d11537b99eab8115

Detection & response playbook

Backdoor / remote access

  1. Find it

    Search your lockfiles and build artifacts for hardhat-gas-profiler-plugin (version 1.7.86).

  2. If you installed it — respond

    hardhat-gas-profiler-plugin establishes remote access, so treat any host that installed it as fully compromised. Isolate the machine, remove the package, rotate all credentials it could reach, and rebuild from a trusted image rather than cleaning in place — a backdoor may have planted additional persistence.

  3. Did it already run?

    If hardhat-gas-profiler-plugin 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-gas-profiler-plugin on npm has been identified as a malicious package (version 1.7.86 flagged). It should be removed immediately — do not install or keep it in your dependency tree.

Campaign

GHSA-w4rg-p3x5-fv42IN-MAL-2026-003321

References

Credits

  • Amazon Inspector · finder

Detect & block this

O3 blocks hardhat-gas-profiler-plugin-class packages before install and in CI — and if it already ran, its runtime egress monitoring catches the C2 callback and severs the channel.

Malware detection Runtime egress monitoring

Explore

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hardhat-gas-profiler-plugin (npm) malicious package — MAL-2026-4244 | O3 Security