Which versions of chainutils are malicious?

The following PyPI versions of chainutils are flagged malicious: 1.0.0. Treat any of these as compromised.

How do I remediate chainutils if I installed it?

chainutils 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 chainutils — how do I know if it already compromised me?

If chainutils 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.

Is chainutils part of a known attack campaign?

Yes — chainutils is associated with the 2026-04-genosys 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 chainutils across my projects, lockfiles, and CI pipelines?

Search your lockfiles and build artifacts for chainutils (version 1.0.0).

Malicious package

chainutilsPyPI

Advisory published Apr 16, 2026Updated Apr 16, 2026

chainutils is a confirmed malicious PyPI package (MAL-2026-2820) that steals credentials and exfiltrates sensitive data (malicious version 1.0.0). Do not install it — remove it immediately and rotate any exposed credentials.

Malicious code in chainutils (PyPI)

MAL-2026-2820

Immediate action

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

pip uninstall chainutils

What this malware does

During import, package triggers malicious code. First, it ensures persistency e.g., through the autostart registry key. Then, based on the encrypted config, an exfiltration demon is started. It registeres the instance in the C2 server and starts searching the file system looking for files matching given filename patterns and then monitoring changes. Discovered files are exfiltrated to a hardcoded remote target.

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

Campaign: 2026-04-genosys

Reasons (based on the campaign):

files-exfiltration
peristence-autorun
obfuscation
The malicious code is intentionally included in a dependency of the package
exfiltration-credentials
persistence
crypto-related

Malicious versions

1 flagged

1.0.0

Indicators of compromise (SHA-256)

149995e4a1c4d289fa58be2adcab4095dca7c429097ad6735afef8270e7e4cb3

28af9b88d438eb86e5f9c4f0e9718afd7feec970c6f76ab8886e5fbc41e5f49d

Detection & response playbook

Credential / info stealer

Find it
Search your lockfiles and build artifacts for chainutils (version 1.0.0).
If you installed it — respond
chainutils 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 chainutils 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. chainutils 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

2026-04-genosys

References

Credits

Kamil Mańkowski (kam193) · reporter

Detect & block this

O3 blocks chainutils-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