---
id: "MAL-2026-17325"
kind: "package"
aliases: ["MAL-2026-17325"]
title: "Malicious code in cleanup-string (PyPI)"
severity: "critical"
cvss: null
epss: null
exploited: false
status: "open"
category: "package"
products: [{"name": "cleanup-string", "fixed": [], "affected": "= 1.0.0", "ecosystem": "pypi"}]
ecosystems: ["pypi"]
tags: ["malicious", "package"]
not_affected_if: []
published_at: "2026-09-30T04:37:46+00:00"
first_seen_at: "2026-10-26T20:51:58+00:00"
updated_at: "2026-10-26T21:08:21+00:00"
sources: [{"source": "osv-malicious", "url": "https://osv.dev/vulnerability/MAL-2026-17325", "first_seen_at": "2026-10-26T20:51:58+00:00"}]
---

# Malicious code in cleanup-string (PyPI)

## Affected

- pypi:cleanup-string affected = 1.0.0 fixed ?

## Timeline

- 2026-10-26T20:51:58+00:00 osv-malicious https://osv.dev/vulnerability/MAL-2026-17325

## From the sources

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

## Source: amazon-inspector (844c5afa9f00c02149f4f6314447c5738e04ed419014809c1df83f31aa012525)
The package advertises itself as a pure-Python string helper (strip, slugify, case conversion, whitespace collapse) and its README states the implementation is standard-library only. However, `cleanup_string/__init__.py` performs `from._impl import cleanup`, which loads a 1.3 MB Windows-only native extension `cleanup_string/_impl.cp313-win_amd64.vmp.pyd` (sha256 980ae204f04f9a7e68666670eb5b236bc7347d0111697df1015de665fd1a1712). The filename embeds the VMProtect convention `.vmp` and the binary matches that packer's signature: the only readable strings are Win32 API imports (LoadLibraryA, GetModuleHandleA, HeapAlloc, DisableThreadLibraryCalls, ExitProcess, KERNEL32.dll, VCRUNTIME140.dll) and the remaining ~1.3 MB is high-entropy virtualized code. VMProtect exists to defeat static and dynamic analysis; the trivial advertised functionality has no legitimate need for a virtualized native module. Any Windows Python 3.13 environment that imports `cleanup_string` executes this opaque, anti-analysis-protected code with the privileges of the importing process.

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