bash8PyPI
Advisory published Updated
bash8 is a confirmed malicious PyPI package (MAL-2026-5768) that steals credentials and exfiltrates sensitive data (malicious versions 0.0.0, 1.0.0). Do not install it — remove it immediately and rotate any exposed credentials.
Malicious code in bash8 (PyPI)
What this malware does
Package is published as 'bash8' (matching an existing PyPI bash linter) but installs a top-level module named 'ca_certificates' whose only content is a stub __version__ = "0.0.0" and an info() function returning the string 'This is a dummy bash8 package for PyPI.' Author metadata is the placeholder 'Your Name [email protected]'. The package contains no install hooks, no network I/O, no subprocess execution, and no credential reads — it is functionally inert. The installable module name 'ca_certificates' would shadow imports of that identifier in any environment where this package is installed, and the distribution name collides with an existing linter. Name confusion alone, without an installer-harm payload, is a subjective signal best resolved by a human reviewer.
Installing the package or importing the module exfiltrates basic information about the host, and the package has no other purpose.
Category: PROBABLY_PENTEST - Packages looking like typical pentest packages, but also anything that looks like testing, exploring pre-prepared kits, research & co, with clearly low-harm possibilities.
Campaign: GENERIC-standard-pypi-install-pentest
Reasons (based on the campaign):
-
The package contains code to exfiltrate basic data from the system, like IP or username. It has a limited risk.
-
The package overrides the install command in setup.py to execute malicious code during installation.
Malicious versions
Indicators of compromise (SHA-256)
Detection & response playbook
Credential / info stealerFind it
Search your lockfiles and build artifacts for bash8 (2 malicious versions).
If you installed it — respond
bash8 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 bash8 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
Campaign
References
Credits
- Amazon Inspector · finder
- Kamil Mańkowski (kam193) · reporter
Detect & block this
O3 blocks bash8-class packages before install and in CI — and if it already ran, its runtime egress monitoring catches the credential exfiltration and severs the channel.