CVE-2022-41385

Vulnerability

The d8s-html package for Python, version 0.1.0 as distributed on PyPI, contains a potential code-execution backdoor inserted by a third party. The backdoor is the democritus-urls package, which is included as a dependency. When d8s-html==0.1.0 is installed, the democritus-urls package is also downloaded, and attackers can upload malicious versions of democritus-urls to PyPI, allowing arbitrary code to execute in the context of the user's environment [1][2].

Exploitation

An attacker can upload a malicious democritus-urls package to PyPI. Any user who installs d8s-html==0.1.0 (e.g., via pip install d8s-html==0.1.0) will automatically download and execute the compromised democritus-urls dependency. No additional user interaction beyond the installation is required; the malicious code runs during package installation or when the backdoored module is imported [2].

Impact

Successful exploitation allows arbitrary code execution on the victim's system with the privileges of the user running the installation. This can lead to complete compromise of the affected environment, including data theft, installation of further malware, or unauthorized access to network resources [1][2].

Mitigation

The project maintainers have identified the issue and suggest removing version 0.1.0 of d8s-html from PyPI. As of the publication date, no fixed version has been released. Users should immediately remove any installation of d8s-html==0.1.0 and avoid using this package until a patched version is available. Dependency scanning tools should flag democritus-urls as a suspicious package [2][3].