{"answers":{"affected":"1 open source package ship an affected version, including transfomers.","exploited":"There is no known exploitation of MAL-2026-16136 in the wild and no public exploit code.","fix":"Remove the package from your dependencies and lockfiles, then rotate any secrets on machines where it was installed.","what":"MAL-2026-16136 is a malicious package in transfomers, published on 11 Sep 2026."},"fix_prompt":"MAL-2026-16136 is a malicious package: transfomers (PyPI). Every version was published to cause harm.\n\nTask:\n1. Search this repository's dependency manifests and lockfiles for the package, including transitive dependencies.\n2. If it is present, remove it, regenerate the lockfile with the project's package manager, and replace whatever it was used for.\n3. List any CI runners, developer machines or containers that installed it, so their secrets can be rotated.\n4. If the package is not used anywhere, say so and change nothing.\n\nReference: https://insights.sbomify.com/MAL-2026-16136/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/MAL-2026-16136/index.md)","id":"MAL-2026-16136","markdown":"https://insights.sbomify.com/MAL-2026-16136/index.md","name":"MAL-2026-16136","record":{"aliases":[],"analysis":null,"analysis_generated_by":null,"assigner":null,"cpe":[],"cvss":{"score":null,"severity":null,"source":null,"vector":null,"version":null},"cwes":[],"description":"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.\n\nTyposquatting 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.\n\n---\n\nCategory: MALICIOUS - The campaign has clearly malicious intent, like infostealers.\n\nCampaign: 2026-09-openaii\n\nReasons (based on the campaign):\n\n - Downloads and executes a remote malicious script.\n\n - obfuscation\n\n - abuses-pth\n\n - cryptominer\n\n - infostealer\n\n - exfiltration-credentials\n\n - files-exfiltration\n\n - exfiltration-ssh-keys\n\n - persistence\n\n - typosquatting\n\n - covering-tracks","ecosystems":["PyPI"],"exploits":{"exploitdb":null,"first_seen":null,"github_poc":null,"max_poc_stars":null,"metasploit":null,"nuclei":null,"refs":[],"tier":null},"has_fix":false,"headline":"Malicious code in transfomers (PyPI)","id":"MAL-2026-16136","indexable":true,"kev":null,"kind":"malicious","links":{"ecosystem":"PyPI","product":null,"products":[],"type":null,"year":"2026"},"n_packages":1,"n_references":null,"packages":[{"ecosystem":"PyPI","fixed":[],"introduced":[],"last_affected":[],"package":"transfomers","purl":"pkg:pypi/transfomers","source":"MAL-2026-16136"}],"products":null,"published":"2026-09-11","related":[],"sources":[{"class":"attribution","licence":"Apache-2.0","name":"OpenSSF Malicious Packages","prefix":"MAL"}],"ssvc":{"automatable":null,"exploitation":null,"technical_impact":null},"state":null,"updated":null,"vendors":null},"summary":null,"url":"https://insights.sbomify.com/MAL-2026-16136/"}