MAL-2026-5292 Malicious code in bittensor-burn-watch (PyPI)

Package advertises itself as a Bittensor subnet burn-rate monitor but bundles a live TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN and TELEGRAM_CHAT_ID in bittensor_burn_watch/defaults.env that the maintainer's own example file labels as 'Clipboard alerts (admin Telegram)' and notes 'Pip users get these automatically — they do not edit these themselves'. The Telegram chat ID is admin-controlled, so every installer's outbound alert traffic is routed to a destination the maintainer owns and the installer cannot see or change. All actual functionality lives in two Cython-compiled.so files (core.cpython-310-x86_64-linux-gnu.so 6.2 MB and burn_watch.*.so 2.3 MB); the only readable Python is a 107-byte init.py and a 77-byte main.py that re-export main from the compiled binary. With a python-xlib dependency on Linux providing X11 clipboard/selection access, the binary-only distribution prevents installers from auditing what data the package reads from their machine and sends to the maintainer's Telegram. Independently, defaults.env also ships a live third-party Taostats API key (tao-e9b3d1d9-…) to every installer, marked 'bundled; users never set this' — this both leaks the maintainer's own quota/billing identity and turns every install into a free proxy for that account. The combination of hardcoded maintainer-owned destination, 'clipboard alerts' framing in the maintainer's own documentation, advertised purpose (burn monitoring) that does not require clipboard access, and unreviewable compiled-binary logic constitutes a silent-relay supply-chain risk.

The package contains code to steal clipboard content to a predefined remote location. If run in the right way, the code will periodically check the clipboard and if the content matches the pattern, exfiltrates it. Early versions contain this behavior mentioned in the README. The targeted data are likely cryptocurrency secret seed phrases.

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

Campaign: 2026-06-clip-logger

Reasons (based on the campaign):

• clipboard-stealing

• crypto-related