The Official Repository of Python Software Packages Flooded with Spam

The Official Repository of Python Software Packages Flooded with Spam
The official repository for PyPI Python software packages is under attack by threat actors who have started flooding it with spam packages, according to a new report from BleepingComputer. These spam packages use a naming style commonly associated with torrents and other pirated online content where the name of each package contains a movie title, the current year, and the words online and free like this "watch-army -of-the-dead-2021-full-online-movie-free-hd-quality.”Sonatype senior software engineer Adam Boesch first discovered these suspicious packages when he found a PyPI component bearing the name from a popular TV show. Boesch provided additional information about his discovery in an interview with BleepingComputer, saying: "I was browsing the dataset and noticed 'wandavision', which is a bit strange for a package name. Upon closer inspection, I found this package and got it. I looked up PyPI because I didn't think so. This is not uncommon in other ecosystems like npm, where there are millions of packages. Fortunately, packages like these are fairly easy to spot and avoid."

Spam packages

In addition to spam keywords and links to illegal video streaming sites, spam packages found on PyPI also contain files with working code and author information stolen from legitimate Python software packages. When BleepingComputer discovered a spam package titled "watch-army-of-the-dead-2021-full-online-movie-free-hd-quality" and investigated it, the media discovered that it contained information about the author and the code. from the PyPI package "jedi-language-server". While many packages with the same name were easy to find by searching for "full-online-movie-free" in PyPI, as of this writing, it appears that the Python Package Index repository maintainers have cleaned up most of the spam. However, Python developers looking for new packages in the repository should be careful if they decide to download and open any of these spam packages, as they could likely contain malware or other malicious code. Via BleepingComputer