uitilPyPI
Advisory published Updated
uitil is a confirmed malicious PyPI package (MAL-2026-1036) that steals credentials and exfiltrates sensitive data (malicious versions 0.1.4, 0.1.5). Do not install it — remove it immediately and rotate any exposed credentials.
Malicious code in uitil (PyPI)
What this malware does
The package implements an undocumented way to execute code hidden in image files, and a function that searches for images in the current directory and attempts to execute the code.
It's used in the GitHub repository https://github.com/OR-6/PassCheck/blob/main/main.py#L190 to silently execute the command hidden in the image https://github.com/OR-6/PassCheck/blob/b09b3f1ec5d7345c614b1d956840ee2774f7131b/demo.png when the user interacts with the repository code. The decrypted command attempted to download and execute code from hxxps://or-6.github[.]io, which at the time of analysis didn't host any code.
Category: MALICIOUS - The campaign has clearly malicious intent, like infostealers.
Campaign: 2026-01-uitil
Reasons (based on the campaign):
-
typosquatting
-
steganography
-
The malicious code is intentionally included in a dependency of the package
-
action-hidden-in-lib-usage
-
The package contains code to execute remote commands (probably limited to a specific set) on the victim's machine.
Malicious versions
Indicators of compromise (SHA-256)
Detection & response playbook
Credential / info stealerFind it
Search your lockfiles and build artifacts for uitil (2 malicious versions).
If you installed it — respond
uitil 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 uitil 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
- Kamil Mańkowski (kam193) · analyst
Detect & block this
O3 blocks uitil-class packages before install and in CI — and if it already ran, its runtime egress monitoring catches the credential exfiltration and severs the channel.