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Malicious package

paferPyPI

Advisory published Updated

pafer is a confirmed malicious PyPI package (MAL-2026-17756) that steals credentials and exfiltrates sensitive data (malicious versions 0.9.7, 0.9.8). Do not install it — remove it immediately and rotate any exposed credentials.

Malicious code in pafer (PyPI)

MAL-2026-17756
Immediate action
Remove the package, then rotate any secrets the build/runtime could reach.
pip uninstall pafer

What this malware does

In this campaign, the main package (webreader) has an embeded pickle disguised as a config. A related dependency (pafer) contains code to load the pickle. During unpickling, malicious code embeded in the pickle file is automatically executed. It then establishes persistence via a PTH file and downloads the next stage payload. It finally acts like a RAT, allowing remote exfiltration and code execution.

Category: MALICIOUS - The campaign has clearly malicious intent, like infostealers.

Campaign: 2026-10-webreader

Reasons (based on the campaign):

  • rat

  • Downloads and executes a remote malicious script.

  • obfuscation

  • The package contains code to execute remote commands (probably limited to a specific set) on the victim's machine.

  • abuses-pth

  • persistence

  • The malicious code is intentionally included in a dependency of the package

  • files-exfiltration

Malicious versions

2 flagged
0.9.70.9.8

Indicators of compromise (SHA-256)

a74b7c5b356a87fe0262954cbedbcc432497ab25edaccbade0ce9ce04b16a8c9
996e28750a2dcc9675967fd2694c758a684cf4c0d451e4b764cfb4129ce80645

Detection & response playbook

Credential / info stealer

  1. Find it

    Search your lockfiles and build artifacts for pafer (2 malicious versions).

  2. If you installed it — respond

    pafer 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.

  3. Did it already run?

    If pafer 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. pafer on PyPI has been identified as a malicious package (versions 0.9.7, 0.9.8 flagged). It should be removed immediately — do not install or keep it in your dependency tree.

Campaign

2026-10-webreader

References

Credits

  • Kamil Mańkowski (kam193) · reporter

Detect & block this

O3 blocks pafer-class packages before install and in CI — and if it already ran, its runtime egress monitoring catches the credential exfiltration and severs the channel.

Malware detection Runtime egress monitoring

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