Malicious code in houdus (PyPI)

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Source: amazon-inspector (6f1c6df3b6cf8e44eceecfcd1aa44ee0301e8921b0c5294560c0031c0b17b6e6)

The package advertises random-number helpers but its generator.py side-loads houdus/assests/ssd.wav as Python via importlib.util.spec_from_file_location + exec_module the first time any of its RNG APIs (pick_int, select_item, etc.) is called. The.wav file is Python source shipped under a mismatched extension and contains: multi-signal VM/sandbox detection (WMI, CPUID hypervisor bit, MAC/BIOS/registry checks), RAM checks, 30-second sleeps, and a base64-encoded URL decoding to https://lamabdefs-sesaonion-ho.netlify.app/wobble.py. On non-sandbox Windows hosts the loader silently installs pycryptodome, downloads wobble.py into %APPDATA%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs<python>\wobble.wav, launches it with pythonw.exe using CREATE_NO_WINDOW, and self-deletes. The Start Menu Programs path and headless pythonw launch provide persistence and stealth. Extension disguise, base64 URL obfuscation, and anti-analysis gating rule out any benign interpretation; nothing in the package's stated RNG purpose requires remote code execution.

Source: kam193 (94c533504ec9815f9ba159827d0c7516c779d03d31fc3ac897317fdbc14c2805)

During import, package loads code disguised as ".wav" file. It performs extensive fingerprinting against sandboxes, and finally downloads and executes heavily obfuscated code. The remote code tries once more to avoid sandbox execution, establishes persistence via scheduled tasks and executes shellcode. Malicious code targets only Windows.

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

Campaign: 2026-09-houdus

Reasons (based on the campaign):

• obfuscation

• Downloads and executes a remote malicious script.

• The package contains code to detect if it is running in a sandbox environment.

• persistence

• shellcode