MAL-2026-11417 Malicious code in aiprepkit (PyPI)

The package's PyPI metadata and README advertise prompt-preparation and input-normalization utilities, but the only shipped module (aiprepkit/deps.py) is an embedded-Python bootstrapper. It walks up to 8 parent directories searching for a sibling main.py or launcher.vbs, then downloads get-pip.py from bootstrap.pypa.io and installs requests and pywin32 into an adjacent./python/ tree, spawning subprocesses with CREATE_NO_WINDOW on Windows. No prompt/AI code is present. The module is not imported by aiprepkit/init.py and no entry_points or console_scripts are declared, so nothing runs at pip install or on import aiprepkit — the bootstrapper only executes if a separate launcher.vbs / main.py in an enclosing directory invokes deps.py. The download target and installed dependencies are legitimate upstream sources. This looks like a helper component of a larger Windows-launcher bundle mispackaged as a standalone PyPI release with a misleading description, rather than a self-contained supply-chain attack.

In this campaign, some packages (e.g. cognikit, aiassistcore) are pulled as dependencies and contain the C2 configuration and the malicious functionality, while others (like aichannel) provide fake functionality and silently execute malicious actions from dependencies. The malicious functionality is oriented to replace the copied cryptocurrency wallet addresses with these controlled by the attacker and downloaded from the C2 server, exfiltrating browser data, establishing a remote control over the device, placing malicious extensions in browsers.

IoCs are consistent with those previously attributed to North Korea's "Contagious Interview" campaign. The known TTP suggest these packages are used as dependencies in malicious interview assessments or cryptocurrency projects.

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

Campaign: 2026-07-cognikit

Reasons (based on the campaign):

• crypto-related

• The malicious code is intentionally included in a dependency of the package

• keylogger

• clipboard-modify

• exfiltration-browser-data

• persistence

• rat

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