---
id: MAL-2026-16268
title: Malicious code in index-forum (PyPI)
summary: Malicious code in index-forum (PyPI)
severity: critical
exploited: true
vendor: index-forum
product: index-forum
ecosystem: pip
affected:
  - index-forum
published: '2026-09-17'
updated: '2026-09-23'
sourceUpdated: '2026-09-23T05:30:07.505586161Z'
source: OSV
sourceUrl: 'https://osv.dev/vulnerability/MAL-2026-16268'
references:
  - url: 'https://github.com/xor34/pyjstat'
  - url: 'https://github.com/ghostway0/pyjstat'
  - url: 'https://bad-packages.kam193.eu/pypi/package/index-forum'
  - url: 'https://pypi.org/project/index-forum/2.5.4/'
tags:
  - osv
  - pip
  - malware
ingestedAt: '2026-09-18T16:21:29.479Z'
---

## Overview


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_-= Per source details. Do not edit below this line.=-_

## Source: amazon-inspector (4b837b7b56f9b239c9d0c86bd2e7d432d3223e496a9820c54b0a14fd3c542b22)
The package was found to contain malicious code or consuming dependency that contains malicious code

## Source: kam193 (7561fd94425cdde34f5f9f3d20482a0da8680414d0f38e1e00fea419ce23cf66)
The package hides code to exfiltrate specific files from the user's machine. The used file paths suggest it was intended to be used in a CTF-like environment.


---

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


Campaign: 2026-09-pyjstat-smooth


Reasons (based on the campaign):


 - files-exfiltration


 - obfuscation


 - targetted-attack


 - clones-real-package


## Affected packages

- `index-forum`

## Remediation

Refer to the advisory for the patched release.