MAL-2026-17594 Malicious code in crypto-key-utils (RubyGems)

RubyGems runs this gem's native extension script ext/crypto-key-utils/extconf.rb during gem install. The script exits without action on CI runners and sandboxes, based on CI environment variables, the hostname, the username and the working directory. It continues if the system uptime is over 30 minutes and the home directory holds .ssh, .gitconfig, .npmrc, .gem/credentials or .bundle. It then decodes a Base64 Ruby payload and forks twice into a detached process. After 20 to 40 minutes the payload downloads http://45.138.12.177:8092/wgkit.tar.gz to /tmp/.w1.tgz with curl, extracts it to /tmp/.w1/, runs wg_install.sh with bash and deletes both. The payload stores the URL XOR-encoded with the key usv\x9a. The Ruby code in lib/ is a decoy. The RubyGems account reqthrottle_3474 published this gem and 41 others with the same loader on 2026-10-05.

The gem declares a native extension whose extconf.rb is the attack vehicle: the C source (ext/crypto-key-utils/crypto-key-utils.c) is a two-line empty Init stub, and create_makefile is only reached after a block of install-time logic. On gem install, extconf.rb runs sandbox/analysis evasion gates — skipping execution under CI, under analysis path prefixes (/tmp, /opt/rubygems, /workspace, /private/var/tmp), under generated usernames (uA\d+, sandbox/tester/analys/scanner), on ephemeral hostnames (uvm, firecracker, sandbox, vagrant), and when /proc/uptime is below 1800 seconds — and requires developer-host signals (presence of ~/.ssh, ~/.gem/credentials, ~/.npmrc, ~/.bundle). When the gates pass, it base64-decodes an embedded Ruby payload and double-forks it. The payload XOR-decodes a hardcoded URL (hex blob XORed with key "usv\x9a") resolving to http://45.138.127.77:8092/wgkit.tar.gz, sleeps a randomized 20–40 minutes, curls the tarball to /tmp/.w1.tgz over plain HTTP with no verification, extracts it, and executes bash /tmp/.w1/wg_install.sh. The lib/crypto-key-utils.rb entry is an unrelated BIP-39-style word list and does not implement the DER/PEM functionality the gem advertises.

The OpenSSF Package Analysis project identified 'crypto-key-utils' @ 1.0.0 (rubygems) as malicious.

It is considered malicious because:

• The package executes one or more commands associated with malicious behavior.