Ledger’s CTO, Charles Guillemet, issued a pretty stark warning on Monday. He said a major software breach might be putting cryptocurrency funds in real danger. It’s one of those quiet, widespread issues that could affect a lot of people without them even realizing it.
Apparently, hackers got into the npm account of a developer who’s apparently pretty well-known in certain circles. They managed to plant some nasty code inside a pretty common JavaScript package named ‘error-ex’. You might not have heard of it, but this little library has been downloaded over a billion times. It’s tucked inside tons of applications.
How the Malware Actually Works
The malicious code works in the background, just watching for any kind of cryptocurrency transaction. When someone goes to send Bitcoin, Ethereum, or even Solana, it steps in. It quietly swaps the destination wallet address with one that the attackers control. So you might think you’re sending funds to a safe address, but the money is actually headed straight to a thief.
Security folks are saying this thing is sneaky. It can mess with transactions on a few different levels. It might change what you see on a website, alter background processes, or even fool an app into showing you the wrong information when you’re signing a transaction. It’s a pretty sophisticated trick.
What Wallet Users Should Do Now
Guillemet had some direct advice, especially for people using hardware wallets like those made by Ledger. He said it’s absolutely critical to check every single transaction on your device’s screen before you approve it. The hardware itself shows the real recipient address, so if you’re paying close attention, you should be able to catch any funny business.
For anyone just using a software wallet on their computer or phone, his advice was more serious. He basically suggested avoiding any on-chain transactions for now, at least until security experts get a better handle on the whole situation. It’s just not worth the risk.
A Warning Sign for Open-Source Software
Some researchers are calling this potentially the biggest open-source supply chain attack ever. It really shows how fragile these shared software libraries can be. One small, trusted package gets poisoned, and suddenly it creates a direct financial threat for a huge number of people. It makes you think twice about the invisible code we all rely on every day.
