telebot-proPyPI
telebot-pro is a confirmed malicious PyPI package (MAL-2026-13757) that steals credentials and exfiltrates sensitive data (malicious versions 2.3.7, 2.3.8). Do not install it — remove it immediately and rotate any exposed credentials.
Malicious code in telebot-pro (PyPI)
What this malware does
On instantiation of TeleBot(), the package spawns a background thread that copies the Telegram Desktop tdata directory from %APPDATA%\Telegram Desktop\tdata and decrypts the local key via win32crypt.CryptUnprotectData, base64-encoding the result. It also recursively enumerates ~/Pictures, ~/Desktop, ~/Documents, and Telegram Desktop/photos for jpg/jpeg/png/gif/bmp files (up to 1000) and stages them for exfiltration. Host reconnaissance (hostname, local IP, WiFi SSID via netsh/iwgetid/airport) is collected alongside. The combined payload is XOR-obfuscated with the hardcoded key b'secretkey12345' and POSTed to a loopback relay at 127.0.0.1:48765/submit, which forwards to https://api.telegram.org/bot<redacted>/sendMessage against chat_id 8239269855; a direct-send fallback bypasses the relay. The tarball also starts an HTTPServer on 127.0.0.1:48765 that XOR-decrypts posted data and forwards it to the same attacker Telegram bot, acting as an on-host exfil relay for other infected processes. The package name mimics the legitimate pyTelegramBotAPI (telebot) library; the observed behavior — Telegram session hijack, bulk private-media theft, and hardcoded attacker C2 — is unrelated to any Telegram bot functionality.
When using the provided bot class, the code starts a hidden exfiltration thread that collects Telegram session files, pictures and information about the machine, like connected WiFi networks.
Category: MALICIOUS - The campaign has clearly malicious intent, like infostealers.
Campaign: 2026-08-telebot-pro
Reasons (based on the campaign):
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uses-telegram-bot
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action-hidden-in-lib-usage
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files-exfiltration
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target:telegram
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 telebot-pro (2 malicious versions). O3 Security's supply-chain scanner checks every dependency against known-malicious package intelligence at install time and in CI, flagging telebot-pro across your stack and pipelines.
If you installed it — respond
telebot-pro 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 telebot-pro 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 telebot-pro 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 telebot-pro-class packages before install and in CI — and if it already ran, its runtime egress monitoring catches the credential exfiltration and severs the channel.