MAL-2026-17847 Malicious code in npp-ml (PyPI)

The package's setup.py declares scripts=['bin/python'], which causes pip to copy the file literally named python into the installer's script directory (e.g. a virtualenv bin/, /usr/local/bin/, or Scripts\ on Windows). The shipped bin/python file is not a Python script — it begins with ZIP magic PK\x03\x04 and contains a bundled Windows Python 3.10 distribution (python310.dll, pythonw.exe, _ssl.pyd, libssl-1_1.dll, python310.zip). After install, invoking python from the affected directory resolves to this non-executable archive rather than a real interpreter, breaking the python command for anything that resolves it from that directory first. The archive contents are a stock Windows Python runtime and do not contain outbound network code, credential access, or persistence mechanisms; the harm is local breakage of the installer's interpreter command, not exfiltration or remote code execution.

The package claims to provide a Notepad++ distribution, but in fact delivers ADExplorer, an Active Directory analysis tool.

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

Campaign: 2026-10-npp-ml

Reasons (based on the campaign):

• other

• impersonation