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The Python Software Foundation (PSF) has declined a $1.5 million grant from the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) after determining that the funding terms would require the organization to abandon its commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives. The grant, intended to support projects enhancing the safety, security, and privacy of open-source ecosystems such as Python and the Python Package Index (PyPI), included contract language prohibiting recipients from operating any programs that advance or promote DEI, impacting all PSF activities and not just those funded by the grant.
PSF leadership cited the ethical conflict and significant financial risk posed by a "claw back" provision, which would allow the government to reclaim previously disbursed funds if the terms were violated. The foundation emphasized that DEI is central to its mission and values, making the NSF's conditions incompatible with its operations. As a result, the PSF unanimously voted to withdraw from the grant, foregoing funding that would have supported the development of automated malware-detection tools for PyPI and other open-source platforms.
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The Python Software Foundation pulled out of the federal grant after objecting to contract terms requiring it to affirm it would not operate programs that advance or promote diversity, equity, and inclusion during the award period. The agreement also reportedly applied the restriction across all PSF activities and included a clawback provision allowing the government to reclaim spent funds.
The Python Software Foundation was awarded a $1.5 million National Science Foundation grant under the 'Safety, Security, and Privacy of Open Source Ecosystem' program. The proposed project aimed to build automated tools to detect malicious code on PyPI, with possible benefits for other package ecosystems such as Crates.io and NPM.
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Anthropic committed **$1.5 million** to the **Python Software Foundation (PSF)** under a **two-year partnership** to accelerate security work across the Python ecosystem, with a particular focus on reducing **software supply-chain risk** affecting the **Python Package Index (PyPI)** and the broader user base. The funding is intended to advance the PSF’s security roadmap and strengthen defenses against malicious packages and other ecosystem-level threats that can impact millions of developers and downstream organizations. Planned work includes building **automated tooling to review every package uploaded to PyPI**, shifting detection from largely report-driven, after-the-fact responses toward proactive screening, and creating a **dataset of known malware** to support capability analysis and tool development. The effort builds on PSF’s ongoing security initiatives led by **Security Developer in Residence Seth Larson** and supported by **PyPI Safety and Security Engineer Mike Fiedler**, and is positioned as potentially reusable for other open-source package repositories beyond Python.
Jun 29, 2026
The Python Software Foundation disclosed a **critical authentication bypass** in the `python.org` release management API that could have let attackers forge administrator-level requests and modify Python release metadata. The flaw, reported by Splitline Ng of DEVCORE and confirmed by the Python Security Response Team, could have enabled changes to download and verification URLs for official Python installers, creating a path to distribute tampered files through trusted `python.org` infrastructure. The vulnerable logic reportedly dated back to 2014, affecting the release pipeline for more than a decade, but maintainers said post-incident forensics found **no evidence of exploitation**. The PSF patched the issue rapidly, with production fixes deployed within 24 hours and broader remediation completed within 48 hours, while also disabling risky API behavior and tightening release controls. Additional hardening included stricter URL validation, mandatory HTTPS enforcement, negative authentication test coverage, longer log retention, and stronger provenance measures around release artifacts, including emphasis on **Sigstore** alongside existing **PGP** signing. A subsequent Trail of Bits review funded by OpenAI reportedly found no additional authentication or authorization flaws, and the Foundation said the changes were designed to reduce the risk of unauthorized modification of Python downloads distributed via official channels.
Jul 12, 2026