MAL-2026-18328 Malicious code in netweavex (PyPI)

netweavex is a typosquat of the popular NetworkX library, reusing its public API, module layout, and README examples (including the import netweavex as nx idiom) under a lookalike name. On import netweavex, the top-level init.py loads netweavex.netweavex, whose module scope invokes exec() on a payload produced by reversing a string literal, base64-decoding it, and zlib-decompressing it (the decoded header is a valid zlib stream, x\xda...). This causes attacker-controlled, opaque bytecode to run on the installer's host at import time. A graph library has no legitimate reason to layer reverse+base64+zlib obfuscation around an exec() sink; the combination of lookalike name, API cloning, and import-time execution of hidden code is the canonical PyPI typosquat dropper shape.

Clone of a legitimated package. During import package executes obfuscated code that downloads code from a GitHub repository. During analysis, the code was just a placeholder.

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

Campaign: 2026-10-netweavex

Reasons (based on the campaign):

• clones-real-package

• obfuscation

• Downloads and executes a remote malicious script.

• typosquatting