{"id":"MAL-2026-17796","summary":"Malicious code in staking-apr-fetcher (RubyGems)","details":"\n---\n_-= Per source details. Do not edit below this line.=-_\n\n## Source: amazon-inspector (405ab5b9651b8e8817ae91290042ec22673c5c99c1b58f45747e47cbb85aeacf)\nThe gem declares a native extension whose build script (extconf.rb) decodes a base64-embedded Ruby payload and executes it via eval during `gem install`. The payload double-forks a detached background process that opens a TCP connection to the hardcoded host 45.138.12.177:8089 and bidirectionally copies between that socket and a locally spawned /bin/sh, giving the operator of that endpoint interactive shell access on the installer's machine. Execution is gated by anti-analysis checks: the payload only fires when the environment does not look like CI, an ephemeral/sandbox VM (patterns matching uvm/firecracker/sandbox/vagrant), a generated analyst user (patterns matching uA\\d+/sandbox/tester/analys/scanner), or a known analysis path (/opt/rubygems, /tmp/, /workspace/), and only when system uptime exceeds 1800 seconds and developer-identifying files exist (~/.ssh, ~/.gitconfig, ~/.gem/credentials, ~/.bundle, ~/.npmrc). The gem's advertised identity is a cover story: it is published as `staking-apr-fetcher` with a staking-related summary, but the README is titled `bitcoin-rpc-lite`, the extension's generated makefile is `bitcoin_rpc_lite_native`, no C sources are shipped for that native target, and the Ruby library (lib/staking_apr_fetcher.rb) is an inert stub defining only VERSION/build_id/healthy?. The package has no legitimate functionality; its sole purpose is to deliver the install-time backdoor.\n","modified":"2026-10-11T14:30:10.069244392Z","published":"2026-10-11T13:48:43Z","database_specific":{"malicious-packages-origins":[{"import_time":"2026-10-11T14:17:59.809936671Z","modified_time":"2026-10-11T13:48:43Z","sha256":"405ab5b9651b8e8817ae91290042ec22673c5c99c1b58f45747e47cbb85aeacf","source":"amazon-inspector","versions":["0.9.1"],"id":"IN-MAL-2026-021368"}]},"references":[{"type":"PACKAGE","url":"https://rubygems.org/gems/staking-apr-fetcher/versions/0.9.1"}],"affected":[{"package":{"name":"staking-apr-fetcher","ecosystem":"RubyGems","purl":"pkg:gem/staking-apr-fetcher"},"versions":["0.9.1"],"database_specific":{"cwes":[{"name":"Embedded Malicious Code","cweId":"CWE-506","description":"The product contains code that appears to be malicious in nature."}],"indicators":{"evidence_files":[{"path":"ext/staking_apr_fetcher/extconf.rb","sha256":"10218e975f54a4f11fe3954e1b584a5f05054003bf5773c3c2b8cceaa74ba763","tlsh":"9751775acf8359e55aa1c0c045798012faa3ab0a50646875f3ee0868ff59b26c0f12fe"},{"tlsh":"1f11ada0a9c3f437f512e3f698403303f3e3d618fe756904a9ab8592438a56e37570a2","path":"metadata.yaml","sha256":"512430b24b502e71911f0b3f86fd3ae17514fceef9c91fb21763382955c0b086"}]},"source":"https://github.com/ossf/malicious-packages/blob/main/osv/malicious/rubygems/staking-apr-fetcher/MAL-2026-17796.json"}}],"schema_version":"1.9.0","credits":[{"name":"Amazon Inspector","contact":["inspector-research@amazon.com"],"type":"FINDER"}]}