web3authorPyPI
Advisory published Updated
web3author is a confirmed malicious PyPI package (MAL-2025-4269) that steals credentials and exfiltrates sensitive data (malicious version 1.0.0). Do not install it — remove it immediately and rotate any exposed credentials.
Malicious code in web3author (PyPI)
What this malware does
Package contains just a function to send out data. It (or a package sharing the same IoCs) is used in a malicious GitHub project to exfiltrate crypto currency private keys, e.g. https://github.com/taikoyaki/MegaEth-Auto-Bot/blob/772b4591daaa0b200d1bd1fd3be3d48b8433f084/cap/cap.py#L49
Category: MALICIOUS - The campaign has clearly malicious intent, like infostealers.
Campaign: 2025-04-alchemyrpcs
Reasons (based on the campaign):
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crypto-related
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The malicious code is intentionally included in a dependency of the package
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exfiltration-crypto
Malicious versions
Indicators of compromise (SHA-256)
Detection & response playbook
Credential / info stealerFind it
Search your lockfiles and build artifacts for web3author (version 1.0.0).
If you installed it — respond
web3author 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 web3author 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)
- ReversingLabs · finder
Detect & block this
O3 blocks web3author-class packages before install and in CI — and if it already ran, its runtime egress monitoring catches the credential exfiltration and severs the channel.