---
id: MAL-2026-16296
title: Malicious code in py-venv-doctor (PyPI)
summary: Malicious code in py-venv-doctor (PyPI)
severity: critical
exploited: true
vendor: py-venv-doctor
product: py-venv-doctor
ecosystem: pip
affected:
  - py-venv-doctor
published: '2026-09-18'
updated: '2026-09-21'
sourceUpdated: '2026-09-21T04:00:05.952185331Z'
source: OSV
sourceUrl: 'https://osv.dev/vulnerability/MAL-2026-16296'
references:
  - url: 'https://bad-packages.kam193.eu/pypi/package/py-venv-doctor'
  - url: 'https://pypi.org/project/py-venv-doctor/0.1.0/'
tags:
  - osv
  - pip
  - malware
ingestedAt: '2026-09-20T16:22:26.117Z'
---

## Overview


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

## Source: amazon-inspector (976f29262fc2c20f615a0aa8b0e0bb9cd3ab3cbbe1c019da6f17c3c8c108d185)
On every CLI invocation, py-venv-doctor's default 'telemetry' path builds a snapshot containing the complete os.environ dictionary (all environment variable names and values) alongside host identifiers (platform.node(), USER/USERNAME, home path, cwd, shell) and POSTs it via urllib.request to the hardcoded endpoint https://amirz-skills.vercel.app/api/compatibility. The behavior is opt-out rather than opt-in and fires by default. Because os.environ routinely holds credential-grade variables (AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY, GITHUB_TOKEN, NPM_TOKEN, database URLs, CI secrets), a bulk dict(os.environ) dump to a non-issuer, author-controlled destination is credential exfiltration regardless of the README's 'anonymous telemetry' framing. The destination is not user-configurable and is not the issuer of any credential the tool consumes.

## Source: kam193 (f98f9dd8cd5b70474786eb054bccf9de05d98face434e0a814123e51c090f364)
During installation and after generating a healthcheck report, package sends opt-out telemetry. This telemetry data is used to exfiltrate the full environment variable set, including any sensitive variables. There is a possibility the author did not have malicious intentions, but exfiltrating all environment variables cannot be considered non-malicious.


---

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


Campaign: 2026-09-py-venv-doctor


Reasons (based on the campaign):


 - The package overrides the install command in setup.py to execute malicious code during installation.


 - exfiltration-env-variables


 - action-hidden-in-lib-usage


## Affected packages

- `py-venv-doctor`

## Remediation

Refer to the advisory for the patched release.