prosocksPyPI
Advisory published Updated
prosocks is a confirmed malicious PyPI package (MAL-2026-17167) that steals credentials and exfiltrates sensitive data (malicious versions 1.0.0, 1.0.1, 1.0.2…). Do not install it — remove it immediately and rotate any exposed credentials.
Malicious code in prosocks (PyPI)
What this malware does
prosocks 1.0.25 enrolls the installer's host as a remote-controlled SOCKS5 exit node under a hardcoded control plane at https://kalnetz.store. setup.py's custom install command writes prosocks.bat into the Windows Startup folder (establishing boot persistence) with the command '"{python_exe}" -m prosocks https://kalnetz.store' and immediately spawns that process during pip install. The top-level module additionally calls _auto_launch() so that any import prosocks spawns a detached subprocess running the same agent. Once running, ProSocksAgent.register() queries ip-api.com and api.ipify.org for the host's public IP, generates an agent_id and proxy password, and POSTs agent_id, hostname, public IP, proxy port, and password to https://kalnetz.store/api/register, then binds a SOCKS5 server on 0.0.0.0:9050 accessible from any network the host can reach. Heartbeat and bandwidth telemetry are POSTed to /api/heartbeat and /api/bandwidth, and IP changes trigger re-registration. All requests to the panel and IP-lookup services are made with TLS verification disabled (verify=False). The combination of install-time execution, import-time execution, Windows Startup persistence, hardcoded non-first-party control plane, and an unauthenticated SOCKS5 listener on all interfaces whose credentials are handed to that control plane matches a proxyware/botnet backdoor.
The package automatically joins the machine to a proxy network. Depending on the version, it can happen during the package installation or when importing the module.
Category: MALICIOUS - The campaign has clearly malicious intent, like infostealers.
Campaign: 2026-09-prosocks
Reasons (based on the campaign):
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other
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peristence-autorun
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persistence
Malicious versions
Indicators of compromise (SHA-256)
Detection & response playbook
Credential / info stealerFind it
Search your lockfiles and build artifacts for prosocks (28 malicious versions).
If you installed it — respond
prosocks 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 prosocks 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
Campaign
References
Credits
- Amazon Inspector · finder
- Kamil Mańkowski (kam193) · analyst
Detect & block this
O3 blocks prosocks-class packages before install and in CI — and if it already ran, its runtime egress monitoring catches the credential exfiltration and severs the channel.