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Malicious package

async-substrate-interface-upgradePyPI

Advisory published Updated

async-substrate-interface-upgrade is a confirmed malicious PyPI package (MAL-2026-51) that steals credentials and exfiltrates sensitive data (malicious version 1.5.17). Do not install it — remove it immediately and rotate any exposed credentials.

Malicious code in async-substrate-interface-upgrade (PyPI)

MAL-2026-51
Immediate action
Remove the package, then rotate any secrets the build/runtime could reach.
pip uninstall async-substrate-interface-upgrade

What this malware does

This is a typosquatting/dependency confusion package that is part of a campaign embedding malicious code but was found before the malicious code was injected. The original, legitimate package is https://pypi.org/project/celium-collateral/ The uploader proved malicious intentions in the gztensor-cli package

Packages in this campaign clone a legitimate library and add a hidden code that downloads a malicious script. The script then downloads an archive with malicious executable in the version appropriate to the system architecture, and ensures persistency by adding automatically started service entries. The remote code is a Go-based inforstealer and backdoor previously attributed to Nordkorean cybercrime activities. In this campaign, the malicious code is not immediately introduced in the typosquatted package, but added with an update.

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

Campaign: 2026-01-gztensor-cli

Reasons (based on the campaign):

  • crypto-related

  • action-hidden-in-lib-usage

  • Downloads and executes a remote executable.

  • clones-real-package

  • peristence-autorun

  • typosquatting

  • obfuscation

  • backdoor

  • infostealer

Malicious versions

1 flagged
1.5.17

Indicators of compromise (SHA-256)

9f97af1701ef4cd3f9c0a8bf1f8245a4291ac3b704b9149972b27a6dd9966428
3ea2a1a85801dfb28bed2b98ee9ee9e12cc6d2ab9dfad88fd12cdd8fffcfcf7e

Detection & response playbook

Credential / info stealer

  1. Find it

    Search your lockfiles and build artifacts for async-substrate-interface-upgrade (version 1.5.17).

  2. If you installed it — respond

    async-substrate-interface-upgrade 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.

  3. Did it already run?

    If async-substrate-interface-upgrade was installed, its post-install payload may already have run. Removing the package does not undo that — check outbound connections and credential use from the install window onward.

Frequently asked questions

No. async-substrate-interface-upgrade on PyPI has been identified as a malicious package (version 1.5.17 flagged). It should be removed immediately — do not install or keep it in your dependency tree.

Campaign

2026-01-gztensor-cli

References

Credits

  • Kamil Mańkowski (kam193) · reporter

Detect & block this

O3 blocks async-substrate-interface-upgrade-class packages before install and in CI — and if it already ran, its runtime egress monitoring catches the credential exfiltration and severs the channel.

Malware detection Runtime egress monitoring

Explore

All malware advisories How O3 detects malware Vulnerability database
async-substrate-interface-upgrade (PyPI) malicious package — MAL-2026-51 | O3 Security