{"id":"MAL-2026-18328","title":"Malicious code in netweavex (PyPI)","summary":"Malicious code in netweavex (PyPI)","severity":"critical","exploited":true,"vendor":"netweavex","product":"netweavex","ecosystem":"pip","affected":["netweavex"],"published":"2026-10-26","updated":"2026-10-26","sourceUpdated":"2026-10-26T19:00:41.005894704Z","source":"OSV","sourceUrl":"https://osv.dev/vulnerability/MAL-2026-18328","references":[{"url":"https://github.com/jerryjohnston91/helper-library"},{"url":"https://bad-packages.kam193.eu/pypi/package/netweavex"},{"url":"https://pypi.org/project/netweavex/1.1.2/"}],"tags":["osv","pip","malware"],"ingestedAt":"2026-10-26T12:01:30.297Z","slug":"MAL-2026-18328","body":"## Overview\n\n\n---\n_-= Per source details. Do not edit below this line.=-_\n\n## Source: amazon-inspector (3818fe7f3387637c23d6bc51d62f8fd64dc981c82167750cd3059eec73d2849c)\nnetweavex is a typosquat of the popular NetworkX library, reusing its public API, module layout, and README examples (including the `import netweavex as nx` idiom) under a lookalike name. On `import netweavex`, the top-level __init__.py loads netweavex.netweavex, whose module scope invokes exec() on a payload produced by reversing a string literal, base64-decoding it, and zlib-decompressing it (the decoded header is a valid zlib stream, `x\\xda...`). This causes attacker-controlled, opaque bytecode to run on the installer's host at import time. A graph library has no legitimate reason to layer reverse+base64+zlib obfuscation around an exec() sink; the combination of lookalike name, API cloning, and import-time execution of hidden code is the canonical PyPI typosquat dropper shape.\n\n## Source: kam193 (96ae0ec579e95e33c63930792ee782e6229f77547efac35c3894a7e05c8af2ca)\nClone of a legitimated package. During import package executes obfuscated code that downloads code from a GitHub repository. During analysis, the code was just a placeholder.\n\n\n---\n\nCategory: MALICIOUS - The campaign has clearly malicious intent, like infostealers.\n\n\nCampaign: 2026-10-netweavex\n\n\nReasons (based on the campaign):\n\n\n - clones-real-package\n\n\n - obfuscation\n\n\n - Downloads and executes a remote malicious script.\n\n\n - typosquatting\n\n\n## Affected packages\n\n- `netweavex`\n\n## Remediation\n\nRefer to the advisory for the patched release.","depth":"abyssal","depthScore":70,"depthScoreParts":{"impact":52.3,"likelihood":0,"exploitation":18,"ransomware":0},"changes":[]}