MAL-2026-16136

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Import Source
https://github.com/ossf/malicious-packages/blob/main/osv/malicious/pypi/transfomers/MAL-2026-16136.json
JSON Data
https://api.osv.dev/v1/vulns/MAL-2026-16136
Published
2026-09-11T21:00:10Z
Modified
2026-09-11T22:30:03Z
Summary
Malicious code in transfomers (PyPI)
Details

-= Per source details. Do not edit below this line.=-

Source: amazon-inspector (df75802d76ea42dd9a4e543e30565723bfaed892475cbeaca7ef561a67c1f0b3)

Package name typosquats the popular transformers library. The distribution installs a .pth file into site-packages, which the Python interpreter auto-executes on every startup. The.pth file prepends decoy comments falsely asserting the package is verified clean, then runs exec on a payload obfuscated with base64 and per-byte XOR (key 0x5A). The decoded payload writes an idempotency marker at /tmp/.lurves-planted, then invokes curl to download http://16.78.16.190:7788/lurves-agent.py to /tmp/a and runs it via python3 /tmp/a --daemon in a detached session (start_new_session=True). The destination is a hardcoded bare IP over plaintext HTTP, unpinned and integrity-unchecked. Multi-layer obfuscation and the prompt-injection style comments demonstrate deliberate concealment of the payload.

Source: kam193 (c6a3963d4a040c2ab6bfcd6a41395bc60c6b5755420157c053b9b88d9befec9a)

Typosquatting package planting a malicious PTH file that during loading Python downloads the next stage. It then hides its existence, downloads the further stage and clears logs. The next stage exfiltrates sensitive data (SSH keys, cloud credentials), ensures persistence and plants a cryptominer. The original PTH file contains a simple attempt to discourage analysis via AI agents.

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

Campaign: 2026-09-openaii

Reasons (based on the campaign):

  • Downloads and executes a remote malicious script.

  • obfuscation

  • abuses-pth

  • cryptominer

  • infostealer

  • exfiltration-credentials

  • files-exfiltration

  • exfiltration-ssh-keys

  • persistence

  • typosquatting

  • covering-tracks

Database specific 
{
    "iocs": {
        "ips": [
            "167.86.108.190"
        ],
        "urls": [
            "http://167.86.108.190:7788/stage1.py",
            "http://167.86.108.190:7788/.lurves-agent.py"
        ]
    },
    "malicious-packages-origins": [
        {
            "id": "pypi/2026-09-openaii/transfomers",
            "import_time": "2026-09-11T21:15:39.725618413Z",
            "modified_time": "2026-09-11T21:00:10.916599Z",
            "sha256": "c6a3963d4a040c2ab6bfcd6a41395bc60c6b5755420157c053b9b88d9befec9a",
            "source": "kam193",
            "versions": [
                "4.44.2"
            ]
        },
        {
            "id": "IN-MAL-2026-020008",
            "import_time": "2026-09-11T22:16:21.70484774Z",
            "modified_time": "2026-09-11T22:15:11Z",
            "sha256": "df75802d76ea42dd9a4e543e30565723bfaed892475cbeaca7ef561a67c1f0b3",
            "source": "amazon-inspector",
            "versions": [
                "4.44.2"
            ]
        }
    ]
}
References
Credits

Affected packages

PyPI / transfomers

Package

Name
transfomers
View open source insights on deps.dev
Purl
pkg:pypi/transfomers

Affected ranges

Affected versions

4.*
4.44.2

Database specific

cwes 
[
    {
        "cweId": "CWE-506",
        "description": "The product contains code that appears to be malicious in nature.",
        "name": "Embedded Malicious Code"
    }
]
indicators 
{
    "evidence_files": [
        {
            "path": "transfomers-4.44.2.data/purelib/transfomers-setup.pth",
            "sha256": "6228ded2ea439fc1a2970e212215d761c8d1c65ea59b6adb2085d579efd11bdd",
            "tlsh": "8001ca97db45419ac43005d1333a11b36e3b90fdc6111a8c44bc5ad0331213823a3c39"
        }
    ],
    "package_integrity": [
        {
            "filename": "transfomers-4.44.2-py3-none-any.whl",
            "hashes": {
                "blake2b_256": "f27833fcdfdf0eb1339c07c51b1e06921aef22d149ac3f7e1f31e2cbe3ed1d7a",
                "md5": "3be9f4676595204af5918aa57ed3c409",
                "sha256": "0ffec99ff46386c1d40d4fc523443924d64bcf6dfbd9cb1a0fa2d52b64d47686"
            }
        }
    ]
}
source 
"https://github.com/ossf/malicious-packages/blob/main/osv/malicious/pypi/transfomers/MAL-2026-16136.json"