# MAL-2026-10618: Malicious code in cosmos-gradio (PyPI)


- **Type:** Malicious package
- **Package:** `cosmos-gradio` (PyPI)
- **Published:** 14 Jul 2026

## What is MAL-2026-10618?

MAL-2026-10618 is a malicious package in cosmos-gradio, published on 14 Jul 2026. 

### Official description

cosmos-gradio 9999.0.0 is a dependency-confusion squat published as an sdist-only release with an intentionally inflated version to win highest-version resolution on installers that mix a private index with PyPI. setup.py (executed at sdist build/install) and cosmos_gradio/__init__.py (executed on import) run the same beacon that collects the installer's hostname, OS username, and current working directory and transmits them to the hardcoded domain oob.asyncrun.in via two channels: (1) a DNS lookup where the '<hostname>|<user>' pair is base32-encoded into a subdomain label under oob.asyncrun.in (out-of-band DNS exfiltration that works even when HTTP egress is blocked), and (2) an HTTP GET carrying the same fields as query-string parameters, with HTTPS attempted first and a plaintext-HTTP fallback. The package name collides with a plausible internal 'cosmos-gradio' package and the release is sdist-only specifically to force setup.py execution on pip install.

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.

## What should I do about MAL-2026-10618?

Remove the package from your dependencies and lockfiles, then rotate any secrets on machines where it was installed.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
MAL-2026-10618 is a malicious package: cosmos-gradio (PyPI). Every version was published to cause harm.

Task:
1. Search this repository's dependency manifests and lockfiles for the package, including transitive dependencies.
2. If it is present, remove it, regenerate the lockfile with the project's package manager, and replace whatever it was used for.
3. List any CI runners, developer machines or containers that installed it, so their secrets can be rotated.
4. If the package is not used anywhere, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/MAL-2026-10618/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/MAL-2026-10618/index.md)
```

## Sources

- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/MAL-2026-10618

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From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/MAL-2026-10618/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.