MAL-2026-18328Critical▾ Abyssal⚠ Exploited in the wildMalicious code in netweavex (PyPI)
▾ Abyssal zone — Critical with a public exploit or in-the-wild use
impact 52.3 · likelihood 0 · exploitation 18
Need a working PoC? Pro members can cast a request and our team develops one — it lands right here.
-= Per source details. Do not edit below this line.=-
netweavex 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.
Clone 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.
Category: MALICIOUS - The campaign has clearly malicious intent, like infostealers.
Campaign: 2026-10-netweavex
Reasons (based on the campaign):
clones-real-package
obfuscation
Downloads and executes a remote malicious script.
typosquatting
netweavexRefer to the advisory for the patched release.