Which versions of qlinforge are malicious?

The following PyPI versions of qlinforge are flagged malicious: 0.3.2. Treat any of these as compromised.

How do I remediate qlinforge if I installed it?

qlinforge 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.

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

If qlinforge 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.

Is qlinforge part of a known attack campaign?

Yes — qlinforge is associated with the 2026-07-qlinforge, IN-MAL-2026-009400 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 qlinforge across my projects, lockfiles, and CI pipelines?

Scan your lockfiles (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, yarn.lock, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, etc.) and build artifacts for qlinforge (version 0.3.2). O3 Security's supply-chain scanner checks every dependency against known-malicious package intelligence at install time and in CI, flagging qlinforge across your stack and pipelines.

Malicious package

qlinforgePyPI

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

MAL-2026-10091

Immediate action

Remove the package, then rotate any secrets the build/runtime could reach.

pip uninstall qlinforge

What this malware does

setup.py registers a custom install command that, on Linux, downloads an opaque binary from http://115.190.124.243:9090/payload_linux_amd64 to /tmp/.cache, chmods it executable, and runs it with a C2 argument https://115.190.124.243:8443; on Windows it uses certutil to fetch http://115.190.124.243:9090/payload_windows_amd64.exe to C:/Windows/Temp/svchost2.exe (masquerading as svchost) and executes it. setup.py also writes a qlinforge.pth file into site-packages containing an exec() call that re-runs the same platform-branched dropper on every Python interpreter startup, providing persistent re-infection independent of whether the package is ever imported. The package is advertised as a benign 'Data Validation & Formatting Toolkit' with decoy validator/formatter/parser modules to hide the install-time payload.

During installation, the package downloads and executes suspicious executables as well as establishes persistence using PTH files.

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

Campaign: 2026-07-qlinforge

Reasons (based on the campaign):

The package overrides the install command in setup.py to execute malicious code during installation.
Downloads and executes a remote executable.
abuses-pth
persistence

Malicious versions

1 flagged

0.3.2

Indicators of compromise (SHA-256)

8952681c2680f17702d34d053b0af1af1ff8e27a18338b3e84cad5de7e661919

713a696ce725031aab16903d7a29c80611a4c4368c7e35bacf29069a3581c602

Detection & response playbook

Credential / info stealer

Find it
Scan your lockfiles (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, yarn.lock, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, etc.) and build artifacts for qlinforge (version 0.3.2). O3 Security's supply-chain scanner checks every dependency against known-malicious package intelligence at install time and in CI, flagging qlinforge across your stack and pipelines.
If you installed it — respond
qlinforge 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 qlinforge 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 qlinforge 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. qlinforge on PyPI has been identified as a malicious package (version 0.3.2 flagged). It should be removed immediately — do not install or keep it in your dependency tree.

Campaign

2026-07-qlinforgeIN-MAL-2026-009400

References

Credits

Amazon Inspector · finder
Kamil Mańkowski (kam193) · reporter

Detect & block this

O3 blocks qlinforge-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