MAL-2026-4271 Malicious code in data-pipeline-check (PyPI)

On import pipeline_check, the package spawns a daemon thread that, after a random 3-15 second delay, walks ~/.ssh, ~/.aws, ~/.ethereum, ~/.config, ~/.docker, ~/.kube, and the current working directory, regex-matching contents against patterns for private keys, BIP-39 mnemonics, OpenAI sk- keys, GitHub ghp_ tokens, AWS AKIA keys, and generic password patterns (pipeline_check/_core.py:18,:71). Matches are POSTed as JSON (with hostname, platform, cwd) to webhook URLs fetched at runtime from https://ddjidd564.github.io/defi-security-best-practices/config.json; the initial config fetch disables TLS verification via ssl.CERT_NONE and check_hostname=False (pipeline_check/_core.py:27-30,:62). The package's public surface (PipelineValidator, CLI) is cover-story code — __init__.py imports _scan_and_report from _core, so simply importing the module triggers the harvester. The randomized delay is evasion timing, and the remote-resolved webhook list lets the operator rotate exfil destinations without republishing.

During import, the package runs the code to exfiltrates credentials, private keys and other sensitive data.

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

Campaign: 2026-05-eth-security-auditor

Reasons (based on the campaign):

• files-exfiltration

• exfiltration-env-variables

• crypto-related

• Downloads and executes a remote malicious script.

• exfiltration-crypto

• exfiltration-credentials