GHSA-4g82-3jcr-q52w
Malware in ctx
Blast Radius
ctxReal-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects PyPI packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.
Description
The ctx hosted project on PyPI was taken over via user account compromise and replaced with a malicious project which contained runtime code that collected the content of os.environ.items() when instantiating Ctx objects. The captured environment variables were sent as a base64 encoded query parameter to a heroku application running at https://anti-theft-web.herokuapp.com.
If you installed the package between May 14, 2022 and May 24, 2022, and your environment variables contain sensitive data like passwords and API keys (like AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID and AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY), we advise you to rotate your passwords and keys, then perform an audit to determine if they were exploited.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐍PyPI | ctx | all versions | No fix |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for ctx. O3's reachability analysis confirms whether the vulnerable code path is actually invoked in your application, so you act on real exposure instead of every transitive match.
Remediation status
No patched version of ctx has shipped for GHSA-4g82-3jcr-q52w yet. Where your build allows, override or pin the dependency away from the vulnerable range, and apply any maintainer-recommended mitigation.
Mitigate without a patch
If you can't upgrade right away: gate or disable the affected feature, validate untrusted input at the boundary, and avoid passing attacker-controlled data into the vulnerable path. O3's runtime protection blocks exploitation in production as an interim safeguard until the upgrade lands.
How O3 protects you
O3 pinpoints whether GHSA-4g82-3jcr-q52w is reachable in your code and exactly where to fix it, then blocks exploitation in production at runtime until the patched version is deployed.
Tailored to GHSA-4g82-3jcr-q52w. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is GHSA-4g82-3jcr-q52w in your dependencies?
O3 detects GHSA-4g82-3jcr-q52w across PyPI dependencies and uses function-level reachability to confirm whether the vulnerable code path is actually reachable — not just present. No false positives.