VYPR

pypi · Malicious package advisory

Malware

boto4

MAL-2026-14349

Malicious code in boto4 (PyPI)

Details


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## Source: amazon-inspector (d3f621c5e2e8e94d1c8ae2ae176d4d882711536d25199df7a1cdddd410214faa)
setup.py defines a custom setuptools install command (`EjecutaElf`) that base64-decodes a ~17MB embedded Linux ELF, writes it to /tmp/.systemd-helper, chmods 0755, and spawns it via subprocess.Popen during `pip install` on Linux. The tarball's importable package is a stub named `reques` with an empty __init__.py, and PKG-INFO advertises the project as an `HTTP library for humans (unofficial fix)` authored by `Anonymous`, requiring `requests` — a cover story that lures installers looking for a requests-related fix while the sole functional behavior is native-code execution on the installer's host at install time. Package name `boto4` and internal directory `reques` are lookalikes for boto3/requests.

## Source: kam193 (b928f1f0d3af6242391cc626a8601d24f60c70d862bfebe6cfe0777c13a8c0b2)
During installation, package executes an embedded executable. The executable is capable of executing remote commands, establishing persistence, cryptomining, exfiltrating basic data, further network scanning and worm-style propagation. Actions are controlled via a Telegram bot.


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Category: MALICIOUS - The campaign has clearly malicious intent, like infostealers.


Campaign: 2026-08-boto4


Reasons (based on the campaign):


 - cryptominer


 - worm


 - network-scan


 - The package contains code to exfiltrate basic data from the system, like IP or username. It has a limited risk.


 - uses-telegram-bot


 - persistence


 - The package contains code to execute remote commands (probably limited to a specific set) on the victim's machine.

Compromised versions (2)

  • 1.0.0
  • 1.0.2

Any computer that installed or ran a compromised version should be considered fully compromised. Rotate every secret on that machine from a clean environment.