Hackers implanted malicious code in the Mistral AI software package

According to Decrypt, Microsoft's threat intelligence department disclosed that attackers implanted malicious code into the Mistral AI package distributed through the PyPI platform. This malicious code automatically runs when developers use it on Linux systems, downloading a malicious file named transformers.pyz and executing it in the background, with the filename deliberately mimicking the widely used Hugging Face Transformers library to confuse users.

Microsoft pointed out that this malware primarily steals developer login credentials and access tokens, and it avoids Russian systems. Some of the code can randomly delete device files located in Israel or Iran. This attack is related to the "Shai-Hulud" supply chain attack campaign that started in September. Mistral responded that investigations show the attack originated from compromised developer devices, and the company's infrastructure was not breached.