MAL-2026-10992 Malicious code in dev-helper-bg (PyPI)

On import dev_helper, dev_helper/__init__.py calls start_decryptor() at module top level, which spawns a daemon thread running decrypt_and_run(). That function fetches an AES-GCM key from the hardcoded endpoint https://key-2qfm.vercel.app/api/key, uses SHA-256 of the fetched value as the key, reads the shipped dev_helper/encrypted.bin (nonce||ciphertext, 16897 bytes), decrypts it with AES-GCM, and passes the plaintext to exec(). The executed code is not present in cleartext in the package and can be rotated by whoever controls the Vercel endpoint or the shipped blob, giving arbitrary code execution on any host that imports the package. A separate bot.py also auto-starts a Telegram bot with a hardcoded token in a daemon thread on import, providing an out-of-band channel to the author. The encrypted-blob-plus-remote-key pattern serves only to hide the code that actually runs on the installer.

The package embeds encrypted code that, during import, is decrypted using an externally sourced password. The recovered code is executed and starts a bot capable of exfiltrating local files.

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

Campaign: 2026-07-make-helper

Reasons (based on the campaign):

• files-exfiltration

• obfuscation

• uses-telegram-bot