Which versions of honestjson are malicious?

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

How do I remediate honestjson if I installed it?

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.

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

If honestjson 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 honestjson part of a known attack campaign?

Yes — honestjson 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 honestjson across my projects, lockfiles, and CI pipelines?

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

Malicious package

honestjsonPyPI

Advisory published Aug 23, 2024Updated Dec 12, 2025

honestjson is a confirmed malicious PyPI package (MAL-2024-12288) 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 honestjson (PyPI)

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

Find it
Search your lockfiles and build artifacts for honestjson (version 0.1.3).
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.
Did it already run?
If honestjson 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. 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

bad-packages.kam193.eu

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.

Malware detection Runtime egress monitoring

Explore

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