bittensor-burn-watchPyPI
bittensor-burn-watch is a confirmed malicious PyPI package (MAL-2026-5292) that steals credentials and exfiltrates sensitive data (malicious versions 1.2.0, 1.2.2, 1.2.3…). Do not install it — remove it immediately and rotate any exposed credentials.
Malicious code in bittensor-burn-watch (PyPI)
What this malware does
Package advertises itself as a Bittensor subnet burn-rate monitor but bundles a live TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN and TELEGRAM_CHAT_ID in bittensor_burn_watch/defaults.env that the maintainer's own example file labels as 'Clipboard alerts (admin Telegram)' and notes 'Pip users get these automatically — they do not edit these themselves'. The Telegram chat ID is admin-controlled, so every installer's outbound alert traffic is routed to a destination the maintainer owns and the installer cannot see or change. All actual functionality lives in two Cython-compiled.so files (core.cpython-310-x86_64-linux-gnu.so 6.2 MB and burn_watch.*.so 2.3 MB); the only readable Python is a 107-byte init.py and a 77-byte main.py that re-export main from the compiled binary. With a python-xlib dependency on Linux providing X11 clipboard/selection access, the binary-only distribution prevents installers from auditing what data the package reads from their machine and sends to the maintainer's Telegram. Independently, defaults.env also ships a live third-party Taostats API key (tao-e9b3d1d9-...) to every installer, marked 'bundled; users never set this' — this both leaks the maintainer's own quota/billing identity and turns every install into a free proxy for that account. The combination of hardcoded maintainer-owned destination, 'clipboard alerts' framing in the maintainer's own documentation, advertised purpose (burn monitoring) that does not require clipboard access, and unreviewable compiled-binary logic constitutes a silent-relay supply-chain risk.
The package contains code to steal clipboard content to a predefined remote location. If run in the right way, the code will periodically check the clipboard and if the content matches the pattern, exfiltrates it. Early versions contain this behavior mentioned in the README. The targeted data are likely cryptocurrency secret seed phrases.
Category: MALICIOUS - The campaign has clearly malicious intent, like infostealers.
Campaign: 2026-06-clip-logger
Reasons (based on the campaign):
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clipboard-stealing
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crypto-related
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 bittensor-burn-watch (16 malicious versions). O3 Security's supply-chain scanner checks every dependency against known-malicious package intelligence at install time and in CI, flagging bittensor-burn-watch across your stack and pipelines.
If you installed it — respond
bittensor-burn-watch 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 bittensor-burn-watch 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 bittensor-burn-watch 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 bittensor-burn-watch-class packages before install and in CI — and if it already ran, its runtime egress monitoring catches the credential exfiltration and severs the channel.