What does the awscloud-clients-core malware do?

This campaign is built from two parts: 1) packages named like time-check-server, snapshot-photo contain an innocent-looking code that sends "date" to a remote server, 2) packages named like alicloud-client are clones of legit aliyun-python-sdk-core package, with a small change in the client.py code, where it imports the time-check-server and calls it, but instead of a date, the credentials to the cloud are exfiltrated. There are also variations with AWS clients Apparently, the campaign started at least 2 years ago with the snapshot-photo package containing the same functionality as the newer time-check-server (see https://github.com/pypi-data/pypi-mirror-238/blob/code/packages/snapshot-phot

Which versions of awscloud-clients-core are malicious?

The following PyPI versions of awscloud-clients-core are flagged malicious: 1.0.0. Treat any of these as compromised.

How do I remediate awscloud-clients-core if I installed it?

awscloud-clients-core 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 awscloud-clients-core — how do I know if it already compromised me?

If awscloud-clients-core 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 awscloud-clients-core part of a known attack campaign?

Yes — awscloud-clients-core is associated with the 2025-02-alicloud-client 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 awscloud-clients-core 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 awscloud-clients-core (version 1.0.0). O3 Security's supply-chain scanner checks every dependency against known-malicious package intelligence at install time and in CI, flagging awscloud-clients-core across your stack and pipelines.

Malicious package

awscloud-clients-corePyPI

Malicious code in awscloud-clients-core (PyPI) Remove it immediately and rotate any exposed credentials.

MAL-2025-191687

Immediate action

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

pip uninstall awscloud-clients-core

What this malware does

This campaign is built from two parts:

packages named like time-check-server, snapshot-photo contain an innocent-looking code that sends "date" to a remote server,
packages named like alicloud-client are clones of legit aliyun-python-sdk-core package, with a small change in the client.py code, where it imports the time-check-server and calls it, but instead of a date, the credentials to the cloud are exfiltrated. There are also variations with AWS clients

Apparently, the campaign started at least 2 years ago with the snapshot-photo package containing the same functionality as the newer time-check-server (see https://github.com/pypi-data/pypi-mirror-238/blob/code/packages/snapshot-photo/snapshot_photo-0.0.3-py3-none-any.whl/snapshot_photo/date_format.py).

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

Campaign: 2025-02-alicloud-client

Reasons (based on the campaign):

clones-real-package
action-hidden-in-lib-usage
The malicious code is intentionally included in a dependency of the package
exfiltration-cloud-tokens

Malicious versions

1 flagged

1.0.0

Indicators of compromise (SHA-256)

fd72377bd44ac94d4e846424cd73135390d9f22f8b2ff46ace3366df66b37334

e27bf5713a8bafdbcc34c43b98cc4d5e9c5d03e4952f788b12ff9749081b22d2

431a746ec653df45fd3ffcac72ffcec401fa4cc75d0046b99e3a02bca0da3502

80dfc7acb89d20b896525731f095fbfe0df12881a07b5af4462637d0ae541b63

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 awscloud-clients-core (version 1.0.0). O3 Security's supply-chain scanner checks every dependency against known-malicious package intelligence at install time and in CI, flagging awscloud-clients-core across your stack and pipelines.
If you installed it — respond
awscloud-clients-core 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 awscloud-clients-core 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 awscloud-clients-core 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. awscloud-clients-core on PyPI has been identified as a malicious package (version 1.0.0 flagged). It should be removed immediately — do not install or keep it in your dependency tree.

Campaign

2025-02-alicloud-client

References

Credits

Kamil Mańkowski (kam193)

Detect & block this

O3 blocks awscloud-clients-core-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