aiassistcorePyPI
aiassistcore is a confirmed malicious PyPI package (MAL-2026-11414) that steals credentials and exfiltrates sensitive data (malicious version 0.1.2). Do not install it — remove it immediately and rotate any exposed credentials.
Malicious code in aiassistcore (PyPI)
What this malware does
The package presents itself as 'AI assistant utilities' but its workspace.py implements two active attacks against the installer's Windows session. A background Helper thread uses Win32 GetAsyncKeyState over key codes 1..255 to capture every keystroke, buffers modifier state, and flushes the log to a file whose path is imported as KEYLOGGER_DIR / KEYLOGGER_LOG_FILE from cognikit.config — the code's own identifiers name the artifact as a keylogger. A second _monitor_clipboard thread polls the Windows clipboard and matches its contents against a base64-obfuscated regex table for ~18 cryptocurrency address formats (BTC, ETH, TRX, XRP, SOL, DOT, XMR, LTC, DOGE, ADA, ATOM, ALGO, NEAR, APT, SUI, TON, BCH); on a match, the clipboard is emptied and rewritten with an attacker-supplied replacement address from self.wallet_replacements, so funds the user attempts to send are redirected to attacker-controlled wallets. The address-regex table and chain tickers are hidden behind a _d() base64 decoder invoked at import time, aligned with the clipper behavior and inconsistent with the advertised purpose.
In this campaign, some packages (e.g. cognikit, aiassistcore) are pulled as dependencies and contain the C2 configuration and the malicious functionality, while others (like aichannel) provide fake functionality and silently execute malicious actions from dependencies. The malicious functionality is oriented to replace the copied cryptocurrency wallet addresses with these controlled by the attacker and downloaded from the C2 server, exfiltrating browser data, establishing a remote control over the device, placing malicious extensions in browsers.
IoCs are consistent with those previously attributed to North Korea's "Contagious Interview" campaign. The known TTP suggest these packages are used as dependencies in malicious interview assessments or cryptocurrency projects.
Category: MALICIOUS - The campaign has clearly malicious intent, like infostealers.
Campaign: 2026-07-cognikit
Reasons (based on the campaign):
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crypto-related
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The malicious code is intentionally included in a dependency of the package
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keylogger
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clipboard-modify
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exfiltration-browser-data
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persistence
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rat
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The package contains code to execute remote commands (probably limited to a specific set) on the victim's machine.
Malicious versions
Indicators of compromise (SHA-256)
Detection & response playbook
Credential / info stealerFind it
Scan your lockfiles (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, yarn.lock, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, etc.) and build artifacts for aiassistcore (version 0.1.2). O3 Security's supply-chain scanner checks every dependency against known-malicious package intelligence at install time and in CI, flagging aiassistcore across your stack and pipelines.
If you installed it — respond
aiassistcore is built to steal secrets, so assume every credential the build or runtime could read is compromised. Remove it from your project and lockfile, then rotate ALL exposed secrets — npm/registry tokens, cloud keys, CI/CD secrets, SSH keys, and any .env values — from a known-clean machine. Audit logs for unauthorized use of those credentials.
Did it already run?
If aiassistcore was ever installed, its post-install/runtime payload may have already executed. O3's L7 egress monitoring and runtime eBPF sensors detect the credential exfiltration or command-and-control callback after install and block the malicious outbound channel, so you catch and contain the actual compromise — not just the presence of the package.
How O3 protects you
O3 blocks aiassistcore before install through its supply-chain scanner, and if it has already run, detects and severs the exfiltration or C2 callback at runtime through L7 egress monitoring and eBPF.
Frequently asked questions
Campaign
References
Credits
- Amazon Inspector · finder
- Kamil Mańkowski (kam193) · reporter
Detect & block this
O3 blocks aiassistcore-class packages before install and in CI — and if it already ran, its runtime egress monitoring catches the credential exfiltration and severs the channel.