ethers-signing-key
This report shows the evidence for ethers-signing-key@1.0.0, the only known version.
OpenSSF/OSV Malicious Advisory
imported 4mo ago · by OpenSSF/OSVOpenSSF/OSV advisory MAL-2026-3761 confirms this npm version as malicious.
Advisory
MAL-2026-3761
Source
OpenSSF Malicious Packages via OSV
Summary
Malicious code in ethers-signing-key (npm)
Details
The package's npm postinstall hook executes a one-liner that uses child_process.exec to curl/wget an unpinned Python script from a personal user's GitHub Gist (gist.githubusercontent.com/guellemilb/631fb6348967d9d475125edf67048c0e/raw/build_utils.py) and pipes it directly to python3 (with a node fallback). The captured stdout is additionally passed to eval(). The remote URL is mutable, unauthenticated, and not version-pinned, so the Gist owner can change the executed payload at any time. The package itself has no functional library surface — index.js contains only `module.exports = {};` — and the package name 'ethers-signing-key' impersonates the ethers blockchain library (which exposes a SigningKey class), so the only meaningful effect of `npm install ethers-signing-key` is arbitrary remote code execution on the installer's machine at install time.
## Source: ghsa-malware (aa6ac62c8f62bce87d42fe3fccb998c223086ee5f529221f4342177c0798627a) 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.
References
Source & flagged code
0 flagged · loading sourceNo flagged code excerpts are attached to this scan.
Findings
1 High
HighOsv Malicious Advisory
Affected versions and remediation
This report applies to ethers-signing-key@1.0.0.
The versions list below shows the verdict for each recorded version.
- Avoid installing ethers-signing-key@1.0.0. Remove it from direct dependencies and check your lockfile for transitive copies.
- Choose an independently verified alternative or release. This report does not establish that other versions are safe.
- If this version ran, investigate the affected machine and build environment. Rotate credentials it could access and rebuild from a trusted environment.
Evidence last updated: .
Source advisory published: .
This report uses published external intelligence. The advisory does not provide a separate source-code analysis for each listed version.
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