colotamaPyPI
Advisory published Updated
colotama is a confirmed malicious PyPI package (MAL-2024-11560) that steals credentials and exfiltrates sensitive data (malicious versions 0.4.4, 0.4.5, 0.4.6…). Do not install it — remove it immediately and rotate any exposed credentials.
Malicious code in colotama (PyPI)
What this malware does
The pyprettifier library has a feature to send out the user home path throuh the logger. It's attached to the init of EmojiConverter class. Other related packages utilize a typosquatting to imitate real packages, and attempts to call the EmojiConverter from pyprettifier, triggering notifying the author about the user's home path.
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: 2024-09-pyprettifier
Reasons (based on the campaign):
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typosquatting
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The malicious code is intentionally included in a dependency of the package
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action-hidden-in-lib-usage
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The package contains code to exfiltrate basic data from the system, like IP or username. It has a limited risk.
The OpenSSF Package Analysis project identified 'colotama' @ 0.4.8 (pypi) as malicious.
It is considered malicious because:
- The package communicates with a domain associated with malicious activity.
Malicious versions
Indicators of compromise (SHA-256)
Detection & response playbook
Credential / info stealerFind it
Search your lockfiles and build artifacts for colotama (7 malicious versions).
If you installed it — respond
colotama 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 colotama 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
- Kamil Mańkowski (kam193)
- OpenSSF: Package Analysis · finder
- ReversingLabs · finder
Detect & block this
O3 blocks colotama-class packages before install and in CI — and if it already ran, its runtime egress monitoring catches the credential exfiltration and severs the channel.