Which versions of vantrala are malicious?

The following PyPI versions of vantrala are flagged malicious: 0.1.1. Treat any of these as compromised.

How do I remediate vantrala if I installed it?

vantrala 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 vantrala — how do I know if it already compromised me?

If vantrala 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.

Is vantrala part of a known attack campaign?

Yes — vantrala is associated with the 2026-07-kimichat, IN-MAL-2026-011246 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 vantrala across my projects, lockfiles, and CI pipelines?

Search your lockfiles and build artifacts for vantrala (version 0.1.1).

Part of a larger attack: 2026-07-kimichat published 8 malicious packages. See the full campaign →

Malicious package

vantralaPyPI

Advisory published Jul 20, 2026Updated Aug 4, 2026

vantrala is a confirmed malicious PyPI package (MAL-2026-10867) that steals credentials and exfiltrates sensitive data (malicious version 0.1.1). Do not install it — remove it immediately and rotate any exposed credentials.

Malicious code in vantrala (PyPI)

MAL-2026-10867

Immediate action

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

pip uninstall vantrala

What this malware does

The package presents itself as a 'Python wrapper for the bundled kimichat runtime' but the bundled 32MB ELF at src/vantrala/resources/kimichat is ForgeMiner/1.4.1, a GPU cryptocurrency miner (kawpow/xelis/cryptix). The console_script 'vantrala-run' (core.py run() -> subprocess.run(['bash', launcher,...])) invokes start.sh, which sets FORGE_WALLET to a hardcoded author Pearl-coin address (prl1p2jan4dvkdfkt5r3pra7z96axrxjyjcgat9w7ldetlcy9wffm569sc9ux2t) and FORGE_POOL to 45.151.62.119:3361, then execs the miner. Binary strings confirm the payload identity (ForgeMiner/1.4.1, FORGE_DEVFEE_PCT, mining.authorize, mining.set_difficulty, xelis_sm*.cubin, kawpow). The package name, description, README, and the renaming of the miner binary to 'kimichat' (a chatbot name) function as a cover story; mining is never disclosed. When a user runs the advertised entry point, their compute, electricity, and hardware wear are silently applied to the author's mining wallet, with a developer-fee skim (FORGE_DEVFEE_PCT) also present.

In this campaign, packages use names similar to popular services (e.g. Kimi AI) to deploy cryptominer.

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

Campaign: 2026-07-kimichat

Reasons (based on the campaign):

cryptominer

Malicious versions

1 flagged

0.1.1

Indicators of compromise (SHA-256)

e598f1a12fbd4aed3a98f1942d98fb5ca47182206f0090ac57d7927010061b37

484110c5956fb99a7e458f7d7ac342a7d443b0d3e52dbbef220d736b9cd481cc

ab1a8ea52e1b49fea90687ad77b199bd1ca8eda6666ce05c55e98e52c6da59ec

Detection & response playbook

Credential / info stealer

Find it
Search your lockfiles and build artifacts for vantrala (version 0.1.1).
If you installed it — respond
vantrala 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 vantrala 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. vantrala on PyPI has been identified as a malicious package (version 0.1.1 flagged). It should be removed immediately — do not install or keep it in your dependency tree.

Campaign

2026-07-kimichatIN-MAL-2026-011246

References

Credits

Amazon Inspector · finder
Kamil Mańkowski (kam193) · reporter

Detect & block this

O3 blocks vantrala-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

Explore

All malware advisories How O3 detects malware Vulnerability database