---
id: MAL-2026-6734
title: Malicious code in horde-python-client (PyPI)
summary: Malicious code in horde-python-client (PyPI)
severity: none
vendor: horde-python-client
product: horde-python-client
ecosystem: pip
affected:
  - horde-python-client
published: '2026-07-02'
updated: '2026-07-08'
source: OSV
sourceUrl: 'https://osv.dev/vulnerability/MAL-2026-6734'
references:
  - url: 'https://bad-packages.kam193.eu/pypi/package/horde-python-client'
  - url: 'https://pypi.org/project/horde-python-client/99999.0.0/'
tags:
  - osv
  - pip
ingestedAt: '2026-07-08T18:25:54.791Z'
---

## Overview


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

## Source: amazon-inspector (f2ae9afcd7af22c82b137c1142ae643502d82f3d1f28712b2e5c7ec412bea85e)
horde-python-client 99999.0.0 is a dependency-confusion lure. On `import horde_python_client`, a daemon thread unconditionally POSTs a JSON payload containing the host's hostname, the USER/USERNAME environment variable, and the current working directory to http://109.123.247.172/pypi over plain HTTP. The destination is a bare IP unrelated to any legitimate package publisher. The package ships with placeholder metadata (description "Internal package", author "Security Research") and an absurdly high version number (99999.0.0) — the canonical shape for overriding a target organization's private package of the same name in resolver precedence. Installer harm: any developer or build system that resolves this package and imports it leaks host identifiers to the attacker, confirming a successful dependency-confusion hit and enabling follow-on targeting.

## Source: kam193 (ad72fe1fdc56e7fb5716a906fb8481bfe1e477d2f97c649d5db853a79130628a)
Installing the package or importing the module exfiltrates basic information about the host, and the package has no other purpose.


---

Category: PROBABLY_PENTEST - Packages looking like typical pentest packages, but also anything that looks like testing, exploring pre-prepared kits, research & co, with clearly low-harm possibilities.


Campaign: GENERIC-standard-pypi-install-pentest


Reasons (based on the campaign):


 - The package contains code to exfiltrate basic data from the system, like IP or username. It has a limited risk.


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


## Affected packages

- `horde-python-client`

## Remediation

Refer to the advisory for the patched release.