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Malicious package

honestjsonPyPI

Malicious code in honestjson (PyPI) Remove it immediately and rotate any exposed credentials.

MAL-2024-12288
Immediate action
Remove the package, then rotate any secrets the build/runtime could reach.
pip uninstall honestjson

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)

0d03da598e8b29bb0a20cb9142c153d5eb8519e81f73bba9ff6a0ace1eb8037b
e5703b401839f166c2d73a6e56aa7e747cf19b4035bba3f4c5aee116a41a344f
b9a8cc3b1e77f2756deb2481bb3e82d341320d126283dd2c1bab621f3cbefabc

Detection & response playbook

Malicious package
  1. Find it

    Scan your lockfiles (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, yarn.lock, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, etc.) and build artifacts for honestjson (version 0.1.3). O3 Security's supply-chain scanner checks every dependency against known-malicious package intelligence at install time and in CI, flagging honestjson across your stack and pipelines.

  2. If you installed it — respond

    Remove honestjson 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.

  3. Did it already run?

    If honestjson 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.

  4. How O3 protects you

    O3 blocks honestjson 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

No. honestjson 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

Credits

  • Kamil Mańkowski (kam193)

Detect & block this

O3 blocks honestjson-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.

honestjson (PyPI) malicious package — MAL-2024-12288 | O3 Security