Findings

MAL-2026-17780

Malicious code in block-explorer-api (RubyGems)

Published Oct 11, 2026 · updated Oct 13, 2026

--- _-= Per source details. Do not edit below this line.=-_ ## Source: amazon-inspector (9cfaa3470065369addbb91e3a6c2072e8add334c4d27bff95f91315aa58ae313) The gem's native-extension build script (extconf.rb) decodes a base64-encoded Ruby payload and passes it to eval() inside a double-forked, detached child process with stdio redirected to /dev/null. The decoded payload opens a TCP connection to the hardcoded bare-IP C2 45.138.12.177:8089 and bridges it to /bin/sh via IO.popen and IO.copy_stream in both directions, yielding a full interactive reverse shell on the installer's host under the installing user. Execution is gated by anti-analysis checks that skip CI runners, ephemeral/sandbox hostnames (uvm, firecracker, sandbox, vagrant), generated analyst usernames (uA\d+, sandbox, tester, analys, scanner), common analysis working paths (/opt/rubygems, /tmp, /var/tmp, /workspace), and hosts with uptime under 1800 seconds, firing only when developer-signal files such as ~/.ssh, ~/.gem/credentials, ~/.gitconfig, or ~/.npmrc are present, and after a randomized 20-40 minute delay. The shipped library at lib/block_explorer_api.rb is an inert 10-line stub (VERSION, build_id, healthy?) and the gemspec name (block-explorer-api, authored by generic 'block maintainers') does not match the README, which describes the package as 'bitcoin-rpc-lite'; the install hook contains the entire functional payload while the advertised library does nothing. ## Source: ossf-package-analysis (a5b9d91f1bb472b9d7f227bda95ad5ab56761514d73c202baa3ffdfa4f497cc0) The OpenSSF Package Analysis project identified 'block-explorer-api' @ 0.9.1 (rubygems) as malicious. It is considered malicious because: - The package executes one or more commands associated with malicious behavior.