{"answers":{"affected":"1 open source package ship an affected version, including keccka.","exploited":"There is no known exploitation of MAL-2026-17604 in the wild and no public exploit code.","fix":"Remove the package from your dependencies and lockfiles, then rotate any secrets on machines where it was installed.","what":"MAL-2026-17604 is a malicious package in keccka, published on 5 Oct 2026."},"fix_prompt":"MAL-2026-17604 is a malicious package: keccka (RubyGems). Every version was published to cause harm.\n\nTask:\n1. Search this repository's dependency manifests and lockfiles for the package, including transitive dependencies.\n2. If it is present, remove it, regenerate the lockfile with the project's package manager, and replace whatever it was used for.\n3. List any CI runners, developer machines or containers that installed it, so their secrets can be rotated.\n4. If the package is not used anywhere, say so and change nothing.\n\nReference: https://insights.sbomify.com/MAL-2026-17604/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/MAL-2026-17604/index.md)","id":"MAL-2026-17604","markdown":"https://insights.sbomify.com/MAL-2026-17604/index.md","name":"MAL-2026-17604","record":{"aliases":[],"analysis":null,"analysis_generated_by":null,"assigner":null,"cpe":[],"cvss":{"score":null,"severity":null,"source":null,"vector":null,"version":null},"cwes":[],"description":"RubyGems runs this gem's native extension script `ext/keccka/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.\n\nThe gem's native extension is a cover: ext/keccka/keccka.c is an empty stub and extconf.rb — auto-executed by `gem install` — contains a base64-wrapped Ruby payload decoded and passed to eval. The payload XOR-decodes a hardcoded C2 URL (http://45.138.12.177:8092/wgkit.tar.gz), curls the tarball over plain HTTP to a bare IP, and runs `bash /tmp/.w1/wg_install.sh` from the extracted content. Execution is gated by anti-analysis checks: it skips when CI environment variables are set (CI, GITHUB_ACTIONS, TRAVIS, JENKINS_URL, GITLAB_CI, CODESPACES), when the hostname matches ephemeral/sandbox patterns (firecracker, sandbox, vagrant), when the username looks generated (sandbox, tester, analys, scanner, uA\\d+), when the working directory is an analysis path (/tmp, /opt/rubygems, /workspace), or when system uptime is under 1800 seconds, and it requires developer-looking signals on disk (~/.ssh, ~/.gitconfig, ~/.gem/credentials). On a matching host it double-forks a detached child that sleeps 20-40 minutes before fetching and executing. The destination is a plaintext, unauthenticated bare-IP host unrelated to any legitimate publisher; the fetched shell script is unpinned, unverified, and attacker-controlled.\n\nThe OpenSSF Package Analysis project identified 'keccka' @ 1.0.0 (rubygems) as malicious.\n\nIt is considered malicious because:\n\n- The package executes one or more commands associated with malicious behavior.","ecosystems":["RubyGems"],"exploits":{"exploitdb":null,"first_seen":null,"github_poc":null,"max_poc_stars":null,"metasploit":null,"nuclei":null,"refs":[],"tier":null},"has_fix":false,"headline":"Malicious code in keccka (RubyGems)","id":"MAL-2026-17604","indexable":true,"kev":null,"kind":"malicious","links":{"ecosystem":"RubyGems","product":null,"products":[],"type":null,"year":"2026"},"n_packages":1,"n_references":null,"packages":[{"ecosystem":"RubyGems","fixed":[],"introduced":["0"],"last_affected":[],"package":"keccka","purl":"pkg:gem/keccka","source":"MAL-2026-17604"}],"products":null,"published":"2026-10-05","related":[],"sources":[{"class":"attribution","licence":"Apache-2.0","name":"OpenSSF Malicious Packages","prefix":"MAL"}],"ssvc":{"automatable":null,"exploitation":null,"technical_impact":null},"state":null,"updated":null,"vendors":null},"summary":null,"url":"https://insights.sbomify.com/MAL-2026-17604/"}