VYPR

pypi · Malicious package advisory

Malware

kafka-helmsman

MAL-2026-17702

Malicious code in kafka-helmsman (PyPI)

Details


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## Source: amazon-inspector (75536e8621da28a0e941bd4a607da879a64ab71214e908992bf14840ed9a20b2)
The sdist for kafka-helmsman 99.0.5 is a dependency-confusion placeholder targeting the internal Tesla project name github.com/teslamotors/kafka-helmsman. setup.py contains no build logic; its top-level code starts a daemon thread that collects hostname, current working directory, os.uname output, a timestamp, and a UUID, then POSTs the JSON body to https://webhook.site/bf5cb178-e0cf-43b6-8b1e-fb5d2f6ea9c9 and additionally transmits the same payload to the OAST host jw1yrpkm5xpav.httpcollaborator.com both over HTTPS and via DNS lookups (nslookup/getent/dig) with a base64-url path. Because setup.py executes during pip metadata and wheel build, the beacon fires on any default `pip install kafka-helmsman` and on any resolver that evaluates the sdist. The package declares packages=[] and py_modules=[] and ships no functional kafka tooling, so an installer that mis-resolved the public name instead of the internal one receives only the exfiltration payload. README framing of the artifact as Bugcrowd/Tesla research does not change the behavior: installer-identifying data is sent to hardcoded third-party endpoints controlled by the author.

## Source: kam193 (edc880a17d2b3a9eaeadd0a074e6debc3f507d7afbd4ac8f5c4928209fadbcde)
Installing the package or importing the module exfiltrates basic information about the host, and the package has no other purpose.


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Category: PROBABLY_PENTEST - Packages looking like typical pentest packages, but also anything that looks like testing, exploring pre-prepared kits, research & co, with clearly low-harm possibilities.


Campaign: GENERIC-standard-pypi-install-pentest


Reasons (based on the campaign):


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


 - The package overrides the install command in setup.py to execute malicious code during installation.

## Source: ossf-package-analysis (a2d266a2b4e9df8f2466cfb34e58fe98c636cb75d4ad1ec08cee919bd9a86588)
The OpenSSF Package Analysis project identified 'kafka-helmsman' @ 99.0.1 (pypi) as malicious.

It is considered malicious because:

- The package communicates with a domain associated with malicious activity.

Compromised versions (6)

  • 99.0.1
  • 99.0.2
  • 99.0.3
  • 99.0.4
  • 99.0.5
  • 99.0.6

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