Which versions of hhonestjson are malicious?

The following PyPI versions of hhonestjson are flagged malicious: 0.1.3. Treat any of these as compromised.

How do I remediate hhonestjson if I installed it?

Remove hhonestjson from your project and lockfile, then assume any secrets accessible to the build or runtime were exposed: rotate API keys, tokens, and credentials, and audit for unexpected outbound activity or persistence.

I already installed hhonestjson — how do I know if it already compromised me?

If hhonestjson 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 hhonestjson part of a known attack campaign?

Yes — hhonestjson is associated with the GENERIC-simple-tests 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 hhonestjson across my projects, lockfiles, and CI pipelines?

Search your lockfiles and build artifacts for hhonestjson (version 0.1.3).

Malicious package

hhonestjsonPyPI

Advisory published Aug 23, 2024Updated Mar 17, 2026

hhonestjson is a confirmed malicious PyPI package (MAL-2024-12286) that executes malicious code on install (malicious version 0.1.3). Do not install it — remove it immediately and rotate any exposed credentials.

Malicious code in hhonestjson (PyPI)

MAL-2024-12286

Immediate action

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

pip uninstall hhonestjson

What this malware does

Packages that might be part of testing for pentesting / malicious activity / joy, with suspicious activity that does not present any real harm.

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-simple-tests

Reasons (based on the campaign):

The package overrides the install command in setup.py to execute malicious code during installation.

Malicious versions

1 flagged

0.1.3

Indicators of compromise (SHA-256)

f64a605ab4bc4b122c9046f8617a0a13b0613a707b6c100328512c9a9a72d034

7480d804fb7855d31478b425829528af92f02bdbd6f6ffdab2e500b1cc8b3bc5

86c7d07b23b3cb99afc8e574dbb5d35b487e94457c97c465a5b9e7c0ffea9852

af37655a16eea5184c9a4920fb23614bc25fda04fbafd89a176ca6327bd36970

Detection & response playbook

Malicious package

Find it
Search your lockfiles and build artifacts for hhonestjson (version 0.1.3).
If you installed it — respond
Remove hhonestjson from your project and lockfile, then assume any secrets accessible to the build or runtime were exposed: rotate API keys, tokens, and credentials, and audit for unexpected outbound activity or persistence.
Did it already run?
If hhonestjson 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. hhonestjson on PyPI has been identified as a malicious package (version 0.1.3 flagged). It should be removed immediately — do not install or keep it in your dependency tree.

Campaign

GENERIC-simple-tests

References

bad-packages.kam193.eu

Credits

Kamil Mańkowski (kam193)

Detect & block this

O3 blocks hhonestjson-class packages before install and in CI — and if it already ran, its runtime egress monitoring catches the malicious outbound activity and severs the channel.

Malware detection Runtime egress monitoring

Explore

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