The Python package repository PyPI was discovered to be hosting malware and AWS keys. Tom Forbes, a software developer, created a Rust-based application that searched all new PyPI packages for AWS API keys. The tool returned 57 successful results, some from Louisiana University, Stanford, Portland, Amazon, Intel, and Stanford.
Forbes explains that his scanner searches for AWS keys in fresh releases from PyPI, HexPM, and RubyGems on a recurring basis using GitHub Actions. If it does, it creates a report containing the pertinent information and commits it to the AWS-cred-scanner repository.
According to Forbes' article, "The report comprises the keys that have been found, as well as public link to the keys and additional metadata regarding the release." Github's Secret Scanning service engages because these keys have been uploaded to a public GitHub repository, alerting AWS that the keys have been compromised.
As per Forbes, "It relies on the specific rights granted to the key itself. Other keys I discovered in PyPI were root keys, which are equally permitted to perform any action. The key I discovered that was leaked by InfoSys in November had full admin access, meaning it can do anything. If these keys were stolen, an attacker would have unrestricted access to the associated AWS account."
He claimed that other keys might have more circumscribed but nonetheless excessive permissions. For instance, he claimed it frequently happens that a key meant to grant access to just one AWS S3 storage bucket has unintentionally been configured to give access to every S3 bucket connected to that account.
GitHub's automated key scanning, which includes keys in npm packages, is cited by Forbes as an effective tool. Expressions that GitHub employs to search for secrets are sensitive and cannot be made public. As a result, PyPI and other third parties are basically unable to leverage this decent infrastructure without providing all of the PyPI-published code to GitHub. Further, Forbes recommended that businesses carefully consider their security procedures.
Cybersecurity firm Phylum reported that it uncovered a remote access trojan dubbed pyrologin in a PyPI package in December. Last month, ReversingLabs, another security company, also discovered a malicious PyPI package: the malware was disguising itself as an SDK from SentinelOne, a different security company. And in November, W4SP malware was discovered in dozens of recently released PyPI packages.3,653 harmful code blocks were eliminated as a result of a large-scale malware culling carried out by PyPI in March 2021.
As a result, AWS creates a support ticket to alert the guilty developer and implements a quarantine policy to reduce the risk of key misuse. However, the issue is that an unethical person might produce comparable scanning software with the intention of abusing and exploiting others.
