MAL-2026-16408

Dashboard / Malicious Package / MAL-2026-16408

MAL-2026-16408

Summary: Malicious code in snap-queue (PyPI)

Details: Source: amazon-inspector (e0bb29642def9150e89bacf4da4e1a64f7bc972cd145053cbb0feee0baa768f3) The sdist's setup.py defines a `_wus_boot()` function that is invoked at module top-level before `setup(...)`, so it runs automatically on `pip install snap-queue`. The function uses `subprocess.Popen` to launch `pythonw.exe` (replacing `python.exe` in `sys.executable`) running a sibling file `_snapqueue_core.py` with `creationflags=0x08000000` (CREATE_NO_WINDOW), and wraps the whole call in a blanket `try/except: pass`. Standard modules are aliased under underscore names (`_os`, `_sys`, `_sp`) to reduce visual prominence. The launched `_snapqueue_core.py` is undocumented in README and package metadata and is unrelated to the advertised FIFO-queue functionality. The combined shape — install-time execution, deliberate console-window suppression on Windows, error-swallowing, and detachment of the child from the pip process — is a hidden install-time stager that hands control on the installer's machine to undocumented sibling code the moment the package is installed. Source: kam193 (62bf582784fd41b3484157f6454ddcb6ab2ae10a5d93abeb19a5bfa5642b7e64) During installation, the package attempts to silently execute code. In analyzed versions, the payload file was missing. Category: MALICIOUS - The campaign has clearly malicious intent, like infostealers. Campaign: 2026-09-snap-queue Reasons (based on the campaign): - The package overrides the install command in setup.py to execute malicious code during installation.

References: https://bad-packages.kam193.eu/pypi/package/snap-queue, https://pypi.org/project/snap-queue/1.0.0/