{"id":"MAL-2026-10867","summary":"Malicious code in vantrala (PyPI)","details":"\n---\n_-= Per source details. Do not edit below this line.=-_\n\n## Source: amazon-inspector (ab1a8ea52e1b49fea90687ad77b199bd1ca8eda6666ce05c55e98e52c6da59ec)\nThe package presents itself as a 'Python wrapper for the bundled kimichat runtime' but the bundled 32MB ELF at src/vantrala/resources/kimichat is ForgeMiner/1.4.1, a GPU cryptocurrency miner (kawpow/xelis/cryptix). The console_script 'vantrala-run' (core.py run() -\u003e subprocess.run(['bash', launcher,...])) invokes start.sh, which sets FORGE_WALLET to a hardcoded author Pearl-coin address (prl1p2jan4dvkdfkt5r3pra7z96axrxjyjcgat9w7ldetlcy9wffm569sc9ux2t) and FORGE_POOL to 45.151.62.119:3361, then execs the miner. Binary strings confirm the payload identity (ForgeMiner/1.4.1, FORGE_DEVFEE_PCT, mining.authorize, mining.set_difficulty, xelis_sm*.cubin, kawpow). The package name, description, README, and the renaming of the miner binary to 'kimichat' (a chatbot name) function as a cover story; mining is never disclosed. When a user runs the advertised entry point, their compute, electricity, and hardware wear are silently applied to the author's mining wallet, with a developer-fee skim (FORGE_DEVFEE_PCT) also present.\n\n## Source: kam193 (e598f1a12fbd4aed3a98f1942d98fb5ca47182206f0090ac57d7927010061b37)\nIn this campaign, packages use names similar to popular services (e.g. Kimi AI) to deploy cryptominer.\n\n\n---\n\nCategory: MALICIOUS - The campaign has clearly malicious intent, like infostealers.\n\n\nCampaign: 2026-07-kimichat\n\n\nReasons (based on the campaign):\n\n\n - cryptominer\n","modified":"2026-08-04T23:05:49.706523511Z","published":"2026-07-20T05:19:03Z","database_specific":{"malicious-packages-origins":[{"source":"kam193","versions":["0.1.1"],"id":"pypi/2026-07-kimichat/vantrala","import_time":"2026-07-20T06:05:22.574525339Z","modified_time":"2026-07-20T05:19:03.897038Z","sha256":"e598f1a12fbd4aed3a98f1942d98fb5ca47182206f0090ac57d7927010061b37"},{"source":"kam193","versions":["0.1.1"],"id":"pypi/2026-07-kimichat/vantrala","import_time":"2026-07-20T20:04:39.245388612Z","modified_time":"2026-07-20T05:19:03.897038Z","sha256":"484110c5956fb99a7e458f7d7ac342a7d443b0d3e52dbbef220d736b9cd481cc"},{"versions":["0.1.1"],"id":"IN-MAL-2026-011246","import_time":"2026-08-04T22:30:06.959534479Z","modified_time":"2026-08-04T21:53:34Z","sha256":"ab1a8ea52e1b49fea90687ad77b199bd1ca8eda6666ce05c55e98e52c6da59ec","source":"amazon-inspector"}]},"references":[{"type":"WEB","url":"https://bad-packages.kam193.eu/pypi/package/vantrala"},{"type":"WEB","url":"https://github.com/newbroughblueogwin/automatic-octo-invention"},{"type":"PACKAGE","url":"https://pypi.org/project/vantrala/0.1.1/"}],"affected":[{"package":{"name":"vantrala","ecosystem":"PyPI","purl":"pkg:pypi/vantrala"},"versions":["0.1.1"],"database_specific":{"cwes":[{"name":"Embedded Malicious Code","cweId":"CWE-506","description":"The product contains code that appears to be malicious in nature."}],"indicators":{"package_integrity":[{"filename":"vantrala-0.1.1-py3-none-any.whl","hashes":{"md5":"c5b535b3be2c93dcfbe07491a94e4361","sha256":"49f0711ed29313c85832d492772ec0c5e4023d62b433db12a9a0478fb0dcb90a","blake2b_256":"93f28e2c7a81bc4f5bb2bfba41a980138e2e86512960e8e7c09d9c8a412c36b5"}},{"filename":"vantrala-0.1.1.tar.gz","hashes":{"blake2b_256":"80599c2dc3de89c79ff47ba30c7e40cf28b4b8a2ba492374862fdf28020a5688","md5":"bfb5ba2325cf7fff97f628fcfeb3a4fb","sha256":"543dbe3ee6ca8edb720490561c48a7331741a33fc5e80baaa5cc9ebb2826c3a8"}}],"evidence_files":[{"sha256":"7ba655eb6b7d981c901657be694411305612b5f404eb3734798d5ac10f7ce948","tlsh":"223142c36e040631551eb7286906b9ca5e5830775a8b36a9b7cd77b1a30fba84522cf2","path":"src/vantrala/resources/start.sh"},{"path":"src/vantrala/resources/kimichat","sha256":"f6a2240e4aaaded38ebefabdeab5424f2ca3e6655f47907289c93521c0cb2a7f","tlsh":"cd672303b97252d8d95ac978431a6223fb24b84d57347ebb1fd49b202f15ee0af38b51"}]},"source":"https://github.com/ossf/malicious-packages/blob/main/osv/malicious/pypi/vantrala/MAL-2026-10867.json"}}],"schema_version":"1.8.0","credits":[{"name":"Amazon Inspector","contact":["inspector-research@amazon.com"],"type":"FINDER"},{"name":"Kamil Mańkowski (kam193)","contact":["https://github.com/kam193","https://bad-packages.kam193.eu/"],"type":"REPORTER"}]}