Malicious code in staking-apr-fetcher (RubyGems)

{
  "id": "ce8a7921127fad2a13a2dc7c53b8c4f0aad36e157a6be9fbcc67ede0eb70a416",
  "url": "https://osv.dev/vulnerability/MAL-2026-17796",
  "method": "structured",
  "payload": {
    "kind": "advisory",
    "title": "Malicious code in staking-apr-fetcher (RubyGems)",
    "summary": "--- _-= Per source details. Do not edit below this line.=-_ ## Source: amazon-inspector (405ab5b9651b8e8817ae91290042ec22673c5c99c1b58f45747e47cbb85aeacf) The 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 legitima",
    "evidence": "osv:MAL-2026-17796",
    "products": [
      {
        "name": {
          "value": "staking-apr-fetcher",
          "evidence": "/affected/0/package/name"
        },
        "prerequisites": [],
        "fixed_versions": [],
        "affected_versions": [
          {
            "value": "0.9.1",
            "evidence": "/affected/0/versions"
          }
        ]
      }
    ],
    "severity": "unknown",
    "structured": {
      "id": "MAL-2026-17796",
      "aliases": [
        "MAL-2026-17796"
      ],
      "affected": [
        {
          "package": {
            "name": "staking-apr-fetcher",
            "purl": "pkg:gem/staking-apr-fetcher",
            "ecosystem": "RubyGems"
          },
          "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."
              }
            ],
            "source": "https://github.com/ossf/malicious-packages/blob/main/osv/malicious/rubygems/staking-apr-fetcher/MAL-2026-17796.json",
            "indicators": {
              "evidence_files": [
                {
                  "path": "ext/staking_apr_fetcher/extconf.rb",
                  "tlsh": "9751775acf8359e55aa1c0c045798012faa3ab0a50646875f3ee0868ff59b26c0f12fe",
                  "sha256": "10218e975f54a4f11fe3954e1b584a5f05054003bf5773c3c2b8cceaa74ba763"
                },
                {
                  "path": "metadata.yaml",
                  "tlsh": "1f11ada0a9c3f437f512e3f698403303f3e3d618fe756904a9ab8592438a56e37570a2",
                  "sha256": "512430b24b502e71911f0b3f86fd3ae17514fceef9c91fb21763382955c0b086"
                }
              ]
            }
          }
        }
      ],
      "modified": "2026-10-13T23:30:06.109130457Z",
      "provider": "osv",
      "references": [
        "https://rubygems.org/gems/staking-apr-fetcher/versions/0.9.1"
      ],
      "provider_metadata": {
        "malicious-packages-origins": [
          {
            "id": "IN-MAL-2026-021368",
            "sha256": "405ab5b9651b8e8817ae91290042ec22673c5c99c1b58f45747e47cbb85aeacf",
            "source": "amazon-inspector",
            "versions": [
              "0.9.1"
            ],
            "import_time": "2026-10-11T14:17:59.809936671Z",
            "modified_time": "2026-10-11T13:48:43Z"
          },
          {
            "sha256": "77e16e0b65be41b278edbb76b9a9d73b9567d78d302a6b568dc037ced7efce7f",
            "source": "ossf-package-analysis",
            "versions": [
              "0.9.1"
            ],
            "import_time": "2026-10-13T23:14:38.21108378Z",
            "modified_time": "2026-10-11T07:35:32Z"
          }
        ]
      }
    },
    "related_cves": [],
    "security_relevant": true,
    "severity_evidence": null
  },
  "source_id": "core-osv",
  "document_id": 313748,
  "published_at": "2026-10-11T07:35:32+00:00"
}