diff --git a/HISTORY.md b/HISTORY.md
index 3f65ada3..a2aded28 100644
--- a/HISTORY.md
+++ b/HISTORY.md
@@ -4,6 +4,9 @@ All notable changes to this project will be documented in this file.
 
 ## unreleased
 
+* Changed
+    * Hardened JSON imports (via [#1132])
+
 ## 3.8.3 - 2023-12-01
 
 * Build
diff --git a/src/_helpers.ts b/src/_helpers.ts
index bb10cc73..82462721 100644
--- a/src/_helpers.ts
+++ b/src/_helpers.ts
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
 Copyright (c) OWASP Foundation. All Rights Reserved.
 */
 
-import { existsSync } from 'fs'
+import { existsSync, readFileSync } from 'fs'
 import { dirname, isAbsolute, join } from 'path'
 
 export interface PackageDescription {
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ export function getPackageDescription (path: string): PackageDescription | undef
       try {
         return {
           path: packageJson,
-          packageJson: require(packageJson)
+          packageJson: loadJsonFile(packageJson)
         }
       } catch {
         return undefined
@@ -47,3 +47,10 @@ export function getPackageDescription (path: string): PackageDescription | undef
   }
   return undefined
 }
+
+export function loadJsonFile (path: string): any {
+  return JSON.parse(readFileSync(path, 'utf8'))
+  // may be replaced by `require(f, { with: { type: "json" } })`
+  // as soon as this spec is properly implemented.
+  // see https://github.com/tc39/proposal-import-attributes
+}
diff --git a/src/plugin.ts b/src/plugin.ts
index ad60b146..7febdc5f 100644
--- a/src/plugin.ts
+++ b/src/plugin.ts
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ import * as normalizePackageJson from 'normalize-package-data'
 import { join as joinPath, resolve } from 'path'
 import { Compilation, type Compiler, sources } from 'webpack'
 
-import { getPackageDescription } from './_helpers'
+import { getPackageDescription, loadJsonFile } from './_helpers'
 import { Extractor } from './extractor'
 
 type WebpackLogger = Compilation['logger']
@@ -334,7 +334,7 @@ export class CycloneDxWebpackPlugin {
 
   * #makeTools (builder: CDX.Builders.FromNodePackageJson.ToolBuilder, logger: WebpackLogger): Generator<CDX.Models.Tool> {
     /* eslint-disable-next-line @typescript-eslint/no-var-requires */
-    const packageJsonPaths = ['../package.json']
+    const packageJsonPaths = [resolve(module.path, '..', 'package.json')]
 
     const libs = [
       '@cyclonedx/cyclonedx-library'
@@ -355,8 +355,7 @@ export class CycloneDxWebpackPlugin {
 
     for (const packageJsonPath of packageJsonPaths) {
       logger.log('try to build new Tool from PkgPath', packageJsonPath)
-      /* eslint-disable-next-line @typescript-eslint/no-var-requires */
-      const packageJson = require(packageJsonPath)
+      const packageJson = loadJsonFile(packageJsonPath)
       normalizePackageJson(packageJson, w => { logger.debug('normalizePackageJson from PkgPath', packageJsonPath, 'caused:', w) })
       const tool = builder.makeTool(packageJson)
       if (tool !== undefined) {