Hackers Insert Malware Into Mistral AI Software Download

Microsoft Threat Intelligence said Monday that attackers inserted malicious code into a Mistral AI software package distributed through PyPI, a popular platform developers use to download Python software tools.

In one after on X, Microsoft said the malicious code was automatically executed when developers used the software on Linux systems. The code downloaded a second malicious file called transformers.pyz from a remote server and started it in the background.

“The filename transformers.pyz appears to have been deliberately chosen to emulate the widely used Hugging Face Transformers library and blend into ML/dev environments,” Microsoft wrote.

The company said the malware primarily worked as a credential thief that could collect developer credentials and access tokens. Microsoft also said the malware avoided Russian-language systems and contained code that could randomly delete files on some systems that appeared to be in Israel or Iran.

Reports link the latest attack to the broader “Shai-Huludmalware campaign that began in September and targets software supply chains by infecting trusted developer kits and stealing credentials from compromised systems.

“Shai-Hulud, that creepy Git worm thing everyone is yapping about, is open source,” cybersecurity firm VX Underground wrote at X. “What does this mean? TeamPCP, or someone else, has released the fully armed worm for you.”

Microsoft advised organizations to isolate affected Linux systems, block the associated Internet address, look for signs of infection and replace any potentially exposed credentials.

On Tuesday, Mistral said on its website that it was hit by a supply chain attack related to the broader TanStack security incident. The company said an automated worm linked to the attack led to compromised NPM and PyPI package versions being published.

“The current investigation indicates that it was an affected developer device,” the company says wrote. “We have no indications that the Mistral infrastructure has been compromised.”

Node Package Manager or NPM is one of the world’s largest software download platforms for JavaScript developers. It has increasingly become a target in crypto-related cyber attacks, as many blockchain apps, wallets and trading platforms rely on software distributed through the service. In September, Ledger CTO Charles Guillemet warned that hackers had compromised commonly used NPM packages in an attack that could redirect crypto transactions and steal funds.

“The affected packages have already been downloaded more than 1 billion times, meaning the entire JavaScript ecosystem is potentially at risk,” Guillemet said wrote at the time on X.

Other recent attacks used poisoned NPM packets linked to fake crypto trading bots and blockchain tools to spread malware via Ethereum smart contracts.