---
id: MAL-2026-18124
title: Malicious code in journey-test-helloshell (PyPI)
summary: Malicious code in journey-test-helloshell (PyPI)
severity: critical
exploited: true
vendor: journey-test-helloshell
product: journey-test-helloshell
ecosystem: pip
affected:
  - journey-test-helloshell
published: '2026-10-21'
updated: '2026-10-21'
sourceUpdated: '2026-10-21T22:45:05.191813107Z'
source: OSV
sourceUrl: 'https://osv.dev/vulnerability/MAL-2026-18124'
references:
  - url: 'https://bad-packages.kam193.eu/pypi/package/journey-test-helloshell'
  - url: 'https://pypi.org/project/journey-test-helloshell/0.2.0/'
tags:
  - osv
  - pip
  - malware
ingestedAt: '2026-10-22T11:56:43.864Z'
---

## Overview


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

## Source: amazon-inspector (0203fffc73ebe748d6defab0472b648408b29c959a9c6813f966df48cfafb21b)
setup.py registers a custom install command (cmdclass install hook) and also fires at module import that connects to the hardcoded bare-IP endpoint 137.131.233.62:8080 and bridges a /bin/bash -i subprocess over the socket, giving the operator interactive shell access on the installer's host. Before opening the shell, the code POSTs host identifiers (hostname, uid, JCX_ENVIRONMENT) over plaintext HTTP to http://137.131.233.62:443/shell-beacon. The install hook double-forks, calls setsid, redirects stdio to /dev/null, and enters an infinite reconnect loop with a 60-second sleep, persisting the backdoor beyond the pip install process. A /tmp/.jcx_channel.done guard file is used to coordinate the channel. Destination is a bare IP unrelated to any publisher domain.

## Source: kam193 (bdf4549e34df1c1c7dfd704454011cf0a26ea5807948e917d7bc65f130182fc9)
In specific environments, package starts a reverse shell during installation.


---

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


Campaign: 2026-10-journey-test-helloshell


Reasons (based on the campaign):


 - The package contains code to create a reverse shell, allowing an attacker to execute any commands on the victim's machine.


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


 - targetted-attack


## Affected packages

- `journey-test-helloshell`

## Remediation

Refer to the advisory for the patched release.