{"id":"MAL-2026-17798","summary":"Malicious code in tron-trc20-utils (RubyGems)","details":"\n---\n_-= Per source details. Do not edit below this line.=-_\n\n## Source: amazon-inspector (c840b18eadc331896e56720bc9a00f1239807542202bbd4ff9636737f27d0142)\nThe gem's extconf.rb contains a base64-encoded Ruby payload that is decoded and eval'd inside a detached double-forked child during `gem install`. The decoded code opens a TCP connection to 45.138.12.177:8089 and bridges it to /bin/sh, giving the remote operator an interactive shell on the installer's machine. Execution is gated by sandbox/CI-evasion checks: it skips if common CI environment variables are set, if the hostname or username matches sandbox/analyst patterns (uvm/firecracker/sandbox/vagrant/tester/analys/scanner), if the working directory is under /tmp, /opt/rubygems, or /workspace, if /proc/uptime is under 1800 seconds, and it additionally requires developer artifacts such as ~/.ssh, ~/.gitconfig, ~/.gem/credentials, ~/.npmrc, or ~/.bundle to be present. The gem's advertised identity does not match its contents: the gemspec names it `tron-trc20-utils`, the README is for `bitcoin-rpc-lite`, extconf.rb calls `create_makefile('bitcoin_rpc_lite_native')`, and the shipped library is a trivial stub exposing only VERSION, build_id, and healthy? — the install-time reverse shell is the package's only real functionality.\n","modified":"2026-10-11T14:30:10.073154609Z","published":"2026-10-11T13:48:19Z","database_specific":{"malicious-packages-origins":[{"modified_time":"2026-10-11T13:48:19Z","sha256":"c840b18eadc331896e56720bc9a00f1239807542202bbd4ff9636737f27d0142","source":"amazon-inspector","versions":["0.9.1"],"id":"IN-MAL-2026-021365","import_time":"2026-10-11T14:17:59.599525206Z"}]},"references":[{"type":"PACKAGE","url":"https://rubygems.org/gems/tron-trc20-utils/versions/0.9.1"}],"affected":[{"package":{"name":"tron-trc20-utils","ecosystem":"RubyGems","purl":"pkg:gem/tron-trc20-utils"},"versions":["0.9.1"],"database_specific":{"cwes":[{"description":"The product contains code that appears to be malicious in nature.","name":"Embedded Malicious Code","cweId":"CWE-506"}],"indicators":{"evidence_files":[{"tlsh":"9751775acf8359e55aa1c0c045798012faa3ab0a50646875f3ee0868ff59b26c0f12fe","path":"ext/tron_trc20_utils/extconf.rb","sha256":"10218e975f54a4f11fe3954e1b584a5f05054003bf5773c3c2b8cceaa74ba763"},{"path":"metadata.yaml","sha256":"ecf297a9796a5c5b9b228db9e4a1715ea88ae40ba2bef8c5e9226f84e2605453","tlsh":"9a11f380b6c3fc37f205d2e67d642347e3b2ea08be51783099a3829543c41ad67870a1"}]},"source":"https://github.com/ossf/malicious-packages/blob/main/osv/malicious/rubygems/tron-trc20-utils/MAL-2026-17798.json"}}],"schema_version":"1.9.0","credits":[{"name":"Amazon Inspector","contact":["inspector-research@amazon.com"],"type":"FINDER"}]}