northstart-sdkPyPI
northstart-sdk is a confirmed malicious PyPI package (MAL-2026-10672) that steals credentials and exfiltrates sensitive data (malicious versions 0.1.0, 0.2.0, 0.2.1…). Do not install it — remove it immediately and rotate any exposed credentials.
Malicious code in northstart-sdk (PyPI)
What this malware does
The pypi package northstart-sdk 0.2.1 executes attacker-controlled code as a side effect of import northstart_sdk. The top-level __init__.py assigns AUTO_DEMO_RESULTS = _run_bundled_encrypted_demos(), which fetches 8 bytes from a hardcoded Yuque CDN PNG (https://cdn.nlark.com/yuque/0/2026/png/12727464/...png), uses them as PBKDF2-HMAC-SHA256 key material (with a static PNG-signature fallback so the shipped ciphertext is decryptable offline), decrypts JSON blobs under src/northstart_sdk/_encrypted_demos/, and passes the decrypted bytes to compile() and exec() via _execute_source. The bespoke crypto + remote-key-fetch construction serves only to keep the exec'd payload out of source review. The plaintext progenitor of that payload is shipped in the same tree at encry/whats.ak: length-prefixed framed socket I/O (s.sendall(struct.pack('>I', len(enc))), matching s.recv framing), XOR/AES-GCM/ChaCha20/Fernet routines, RSA-OAEP key exchange, and an auth-message builder that transmits user/password/id fields to a remote peer, with function names obfuscated and misleading # API endpoint handler / # Health check endpoint comments. Importing the package launches a remote-controlled agent that opens an encrypted framed connection to an operator-controlled socket.
The package contains encrypted and obfuscated code that starts a custom reverse shell/command execution during module import.
Category: MALICIOUS - The campaign has clearly malicious intent, like infostealers.
Campaign: 2026-07-northstart-sdk
Reasons (based on the campaign):
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targetted-attack
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The package contains code to create a reverse shell, allowing an attacker to execute any commands on the victim's machine.
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obfuscation
Malicious versions
Indicators of compromise (SHA-256)
Detection & response playbook
Credential / info stealerFind it
Scan your lockfiles (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, yarn.lock, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, etc.) and build artifacts for northstart-sdk (4 malicious versions). O3 Security's supply-chain scanner checks every dependency against known-malicious package intelligence at install time and in CI, flagging northstart-sdk across your stack and pipelines.
If you installed it — respond
northstart-sdk 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 northstart-sdk 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.
How O3 protects you
O3 blocks northstart-sdk 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
Campaign
References
Credits
- Amazon Inspector · finder
- Kamil Mańkowski (kam193) · reporter
Detect & block this
O3 blocks northstart-sdk-class packages before install and in CI — and if it already ran, its runtime egress monitoring catches the credential exfiltration and severs the channel.