MAL-2026-17883 Malicious code in py-worm (PyPI)
- Package
- py-worm
- Registry
- PyPI
What is MAL-2026-17883?
MAL-2026-17883 is a malicious package in py-worm, published on 15 Oct 2026.
Official description
Importing py-worm's agentaix module downloads a mutable Python file from https://raw.githubusercontent.com/anonrider404/pypl/refs/heads/main/readme.txt to a temporary .py file and launches it without a visible console on Windows. Versions 0.1.0 and 2.0.0 do this directly during import; version 2.0.1 starts a daemon thread during import to perform the same action. The package's CLI and GUI entry points import this module. The remote file's Git history contains a Windows remote file management client that registers persistence through an HKCU Run entry, polls https://googleforum.pythonanywhere.com for commands, and supports file upload, download, deletion, and command execution. An earlier remote-file revision is byte-identical to the readme.txt payload reported in MAL-2026-17752 (agentaix); the 39,931-byte agentaix/gui.py is also byte-identical across that package and all py-worm releases. The remote file is mutable; its contents at the time of any particular victim import and actual execution on victim systems have not been established.
The package name 'py-worm' is suggestive of self-propagation behavior, but no a static rule fired and no traced code behavior was captured for this version. Without concrete evidence of credential harvest, outbound exfiltration, install-time code execution, or publish-token enumeration in the shipped files, the package cannot be classified as a confirmed supply-chain attack from the available signals alone.
The package installs a persistent job that allows the attacker for exfiltrating files and executing remote code on the victim's machine.
Category: MALICIOUS - The campaign has clearly malicious intent, like infostealers.
Campaign: 2026-10-agentaix
Reasons (based on the campaign):
files-exfiltration
peristence-autorun
The package contains code to execute remote commands (probably limited to a specific set) on the victim's machine.
rat
persistence
Downloads and executes a remote malicious script.
What should I do about MAL-2026-17883?
Remove the package from your dependencies and lockfiles, then rotate any secrets on machines where it was installed.