Malicious code in adrandom (PyPI)
The adrandom package on PyPI contained malicious code that executed spyware and information-stealing malware. It was part of a campaign by the EsqueleSquad group that published nearly 6,000 malicious packages across PyPI and NPM.
- Disclosed
- Last updated
- Blast radius
- Potentially thousands of installations; part of a large-scale malicious package campaign affecting both PyPI and NPM ecosystems.
- Ecosystems
- Attack vectors
- Threat actor
- Affected entities
- adrandomPyPI package containing malicious code
The adrandom package published on PyPI was identified as containing malicious code designed to execute spyware and information-stealing malware on affected systems. This package was part of a coordinated campaign by the EsqueleSquad group.\n\nThe EsqueleSquad group published nearly 6,000 malicious packages across both PyPI and NPM ecosystems as part of this campaign. The malicious packages were identified and documented by the OpenSSF's malicious-packages repository.\n\nThe incident has been cataloged under the identifier MAL-2023-2501 in the OpenSSF malicious packages database, indicating detection and documentation of the threat.
Indicators of compromise
- Packages
- adrandom
Remediation
- Remove adrandom from all environments and dependency lists
- Audit systems that may have installed adrandom for signs of compromise, including unauthorized access, data exfiltration, or spyware artifacts
- Review PyPI and NPM package dependencies for other packages published by EsqueleSquad or identified in the OpenSSF malicious-packages repository
- Implement package verification and scanning in CI/CD pipelines to detect malicious packages before installation
- Monitor for indicators of compromise related to information-stealing malware
Sources
- GitHub Advisory GHSA-cc59-84q9-p8rh · GitHub Advisory Database
Cite this entry
"Malicious code in adrandom (PyPI)." supplychainattack.org, Supply Chain Attack Incident Catalog. Disclosed July 21, 2026; last updated July 21, 2026. https://supplychainattack.org/incident/malicious-code-in-adrandom-pypi-buvz2d
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