Which versions of mini-hardhat are malicious?

The following npm versions of mini-hardhat are flagged malicious: 1.1.4. Treat any of these as compromised.

How do I remediate mini-hardhat if I installed it?

Remove mini-hardhat from your project and lockfile, then assume any secrets accessible to the build or runtime were exposed: rotate API keys, tokens, and credentials, and audit for unexpected outbound activity or persistence.

I already installed mini-hardhat — how do I know if it already compromised me?

If mini-hardhat 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.

Is mini-hardhat part of a known attack campaign?

Yes — mini-hardhat is associated with the IN-MAL-2026-020619 campaign. Packages in the same campaign often share infrastructure and payloads, so check whether any related packages are also in your dependency tree.

How do I find mini-hardhat across my projects, lockfiles, and CI pipelines?

Search your lockfiles and build artifacts for mini-hardhat (version 1.1.4).

Malicious package

mini-hardhatnpm

Advisory published Sep 28, 2026Updated Sep 28, 2026

mini-hardhat is a confirmed malicious npm package (MAL-2026-17236) that executes malicious code on install (malicious version 1.1.4). Do not install it — remove it immediately and rotate any exposed credentials.

Malicious code in mini-hardhat (npm)

MAL-2026-17236

Immediate action

Remove the package, then rotate any secrets the build/runtime could reach.

npm uninstall mini-hardhat

What this malware does

[email protected] presents itself as a pino-like JSON logger, but its main entry exports a middleware factory that, on instantiation, spawns lib/caller.js as a detached, stdio-ignored, unref'd child process so execution survives the parent. lib/caller.js base64-decodes a hardcoded URL (stored under decoy keys named DEV_API_KEY/DEV_SECRET_KEY/DEV_SECRET_VALUE) resolving to https://ipinfo-encrypted-v1.vercel.app/api/auth/f1f097d93c318c92f0c5, POSTs to it via axios, and passes the response body directly to new Function.constructor("require", s)(require), granting the remote endpoint arbitrary code execution inside the consumer's Node.js process with full require access. The fetch is retried up to 5 times. The declared purpose (logger/vulnerability-management document) does not match the shipped code, the destination URL and headers are base64-obfuscated, and the delivery is engineered to persist beyond the parent process — the shape of an intentional remote-code-execution dropper.

Malicious versions

1 flagged

1.1.4

Indicators of compromise (SHA-256)

fbdfc97da008f90f11ae03963e75237c8bb746cf93f9cdc5da43ba5807ed6c1e

Detection & response playbook

Malicious package

Find it
Search your lockfiles and build artifacts for mini-hardhat (version 1.1.4).
If you installed it — respond
Remove mini-hardhat from your project and lockfile, then assume any secrets accessible to the build or runtime were exposed: rotate API keys, tokens, and credentials, and audit for unexpected outbound activity or persistence.
Did it already run?
If mini-hardhat 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. mini-hardhat on npm has been identified as a malicious package (version 1.1.4 flagged). It should be removed immediately — do not install or keep it in your dependency tree.

Campaign

IN-MAL-2026-020619

References

npmjs.com

Credits

Amazon Inspector · finder

Detect & block this

O3 blocks mini-hardhat-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.

Malware detection Runtime egress monitoring

Explore

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