MAL-2026-17798

See a problem?
Import Source
https://github.com/ossf/malicious-packages/blob/main/osv/malicious/rubygems/tron-trc20-utils/MAL-2026-17798.json
JSON Data
https://api.osv.dev/v1/vulns/MAL-2026-17798
Published
2026-10-11T13:48:19Z
Modified
2026-10-11T14:30:10Z
Summary
Malicious code in tron-trc20-utils (RubyGems)
Details

-= Per source details. Do not edit below this line.=-

Source: amazon-inspector (c840b18eadc331896e56720bc9a00f1239807542202bbd4ff9636737f27d0142)

The 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.

Database specific 
{
    "malicious-packages-origins": [
        {
            "id": "IN-MAL-2026-021365",
            "import_time": "2026-10-11T14:17:59.599525206Z",
            "modified_time": "2026-10-11T13:48:19Z",
            "sha256": "c840b18eadc331896e56720bc9a00f1239807542202bbd4ff9636737f27d0142",
            "source": "amazon-inspector",
            "versions": [
                "0.9.1"
            ]
        }
    ]
}
References
Credits

Affected packages

RubyGems / tron-trc20-utils

Package

Name
tron-trc20-utils
Purl
pkg:gem/tron-trc20-utils

Affected ranges

Affected versions

0.*
0.9.1

Database specific

cwes 
[
    {
        "cweId": "CWE-506",
        "description": "The product contains code that appears to be malicious in nature.",
        "name": "Embedded Malicious Code"
    }
]
indicators 
{
    "evidence_files": [
        {
            "path": "ext/tron_trc20_utils/extconf.rb",
            "sha256": "10218e975f54a4f11fe3954e1b584a5f05054003bf5773c3c2b8cceaa74ba763",
            "tlsh": "9751775acf8359e55aa1c0c045798012faa3ab0a50646875f3ee0868ff59b26c0f12fe"
        },
        {
            "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"