Which versions of auclean are malicious?

The following PyPI versions of auclean are flagged malicious: 0.4.2, 0.4.3, 0.4.4. Treat any of these as compromised.

How do I remediate auclean if I installed it?

auclean 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.

I already installed auclean — how do I know if it already compromised me?

If auclean 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.

Is auclean part of a known attack campaign?

Yes — auclean is associated with the 2026-09-auclean, IN-MAL-2026-020332 campaign. Packages in the same campaign often share infrastructure and payloads, so check whether any related packages are also in your dependency tree.

How do I find auclean across my projects, lockfiles, and CI pipelines?

Scan your lockfiles (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, yarn.lock, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, etc.) and build artifacts for auclean (3 malicious versions). O3 Security's supply-chain scanner checks every dependency against known-malicious package intelligence at install time and in CI, flagging auclean across your stack and pipelines.

Malicious package

aucleanPyPI

auclean is a confirmed malicious PyPI package (MAL-2026-16410) that steals credentials and exfiltrates sensitive data (malicious versions 0.4.2, 0.4.3, 0.4.4). Do not install it — remove it immediately and rotate any exposed credentials.

Malicious code in auclean (PyPI)

MAL-2026-16410

Immediate action

Remove the package, then rotate any secrets the build/runtime could reach.

pip uninstall auclean

What this malware does

The pip install of auclean 0.4.2 runs a custom setup.py build_py command that chmod 0755's and executes a 1.8MB bundled Rust ELF binary auclean/_auclean_native with --init, output suppressed. The package's stated purpose is pure-Python audio DSP (numpy/wave/soundfile) and no C/Rust source is shipped, so the binary is opaque and its execution is unrelated to any advertised functionality. Strings inside the binary reveal a full HTTPS client stack (ureq 2.12.1, rustls 0.23.45), DNS/socket primitives, hardcoded references to container-secret and system paths (/var/run/secrets, /etc/resolv.conf, /dev/shm, /tmp/_ac), and process-manipulation primitives (posix_spawn, setuid, setgid, chroot, execvp) — none of which are consistent with audio normalization, and all of which are consistent with harvesting Kubernetes/CI service-account tokens and other credentials from build/CI environments. The same install-time path also calls auclean._bootstrap.fetch_assets, which downloads a manifest and referenced files from https://auclean-cdn.alcoholpepsi.workers.dev/dl/auclean/0.4.2 — an anonymous free workers.dev subdomain under an unrelated handle with no tie to the stated publisher; the manifest determines which files are written under ~/.cache/auclean/ at install time, so the fetched content is attacker-controlled. The README advertises a from auclean import AudioPipeline; pipeline.run() API that does not exist in the shipped Python source, indicating the Python surface is a cover story for the install-time payload delivered by the native binary and the CDN channel.

During installation, the package executes an embedded malicious executable. It then fingerprints the environment and network, looks for specific files, attempts to collect cloud credentials, and eventually attempts to exfiltrate collected information.

The package seems to be targeting the infrastructure of an AI audio competition https://dacon.io/competitions/official/236749

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

Campaign: 2026-09-auclean

Reasons (based on the campaign):

files-exfiltration
The package overrides the install command in setup.py to execute malicious code during installation.
exfiltration-cloud-tokens
malware
exfiltration-credentials
targetted-attack
network-scan

Malicious versions

3 flagged

0.4.20.4.30.4.4

Indicators of compromise (SHA-256)

b337040219fb9c972fb5437f3546e662ba42d292657ad100b875c6224f152e71

c765ad2add74061fa0012c7328f5655ef07dbdf800e6da3802dc0d8de0ad7cea

535d1083af63653f3cc6befeffe23a6fd97cea9b183b95eac92779a5abcdcd9d

Detection & response playbook

Credential / info stealer

Find it
Scan your lockfiles (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, yarn.lock, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, etc.) and build artifacts for auclean (3 malicious versions). O3 Security's supply-chain scanner checks every dependency against known-malicious package intelligence at install time and in CI, flagging auclean across your stack and pipelines.
If you installed it — respond
auclean 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 auclean 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 auclean 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

No. auclean on PyPI has been identified as a malicious package (versions 0.4.2, 0.4.3, 0.4.4 flagged). It should be removed immediately — do not install or keep it in your dependency tree.

Campaign

2026-09-aucleanIN-MAL-2026-020332

References

Credits

Amazon Inspector · finder
Kamil Mańkowski (kam193) · analyst

Detect & block this

O3 blocks auclean-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

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