MAL-2026-18242 Malicious code in sitecard (PyPI)

sitecard exposes a workspace directory over SSH via public relays (srv.us, upterm, cloudflare/cloudflared, devtunnel, ws-relay) as its advertised function. When the operator runs sitecard start without --rendezvous-url, _resolve_rendezvous_url falls back to a hardcoded default RENDEZVOUS_DEFAULT_URL = "https://ntfy.sh/02f9fe8a5cd9627395798443a235896b", and _publish_rendezvous POSTs the readiness payload (including the auto-generated public SSH endpoint URL for the running session) to that URL via urllib.request.urlopen. ntfy.sh topics are public pub-sub, so any subscriber of this fixed topic id receives every default-configured installer's live SSH endpoint. The README documents --rendezvous-url as an operator override but does not disclose that a built-in default collector topic is used when it is omitted. Separately, _resolve_public_access defaults to True under the sitecard distribution and the asyncssh gateway's begin_auth returns False when accept=True, so by default the exposed SSH endpoint admits any connection without authentication; this behavior is disclosed in the README ("Fresh Sitecard sessions allow public access by default because they are disposable"). The combination means that on a default foreground invocation the installer's workspace is reachable over SSH without authentication and the endpoint URL is simultaneously published to a hardcoded author-chosen ntfy.sh topic. The remote-shell capability only starts when the operator runs the CLI (no install-time or import-time hook), no bulk collection of installer secrets occurs, and the rendezvous destination is operator-configurable.

The package provides code to create an SSH session exposed via tunnels. By default, created session is accessible without any auth and reported to a hardcoded location, exposing any user to be accessed by attacker.

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

Campaign: 2026-10-sitecard

Reasons (based on the campaign):

• backdoor