MAL-2026-18104 Malicious code in semvver (PyPI)

setup.py performs an install-time fetch-and-execute: it calls urllib.request.urlretrieve against https://c2-worker.crawlnet-claim.workers.dev/dl/pyupd, writes the response to a temporary path, and spawns it as a detached background process via subprocess.Popen with start_new_session=True. The fetch is unpinned and has no hash or signature verification, exceptions are swallowed, and the destination is a Cloudflare Workers subdomain unrelated to any PyPI publisher identity. The package has no other functionality — init.py is empty and the description is a generic 'utility helpers' string — so the install hook is the package's entire payload. The downloaded binary name 'pyupd' is a cover-story label; the behavior is a classic install-time dropper that grants whoever controls the Workers endpoint arbitrary code execution on the installer's host, running detached and persisting beyond the pip process.

During installation, package downloads and executes malware.

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

Campaign: 2026-10-semvver

Reasons (based on the campaign):

• Downloads and executes a remote executable.

• malware

• typosquatting