Which versions of airdrop-eligibility-check are malicious?

The following RubyGems versions of airdrop-eligibility-check are flagged malicious: 0.9.1. Treat any of these as compromised.

How do I remediate airdrop-eligibility-check if I installed it?

airdrop-eligibility-check is built to steal secrets, so assume every credential the build or runtime could read is compromised. Remove it from your project and lockfile, then rotate ALL exposed secrets — npm/registry tokens, cloud keys, CI/CD secrets, SSH keys, and any .env values — from a known-clean machine. Audit logs for unauthorized use of those credentials.

I already installed airdrop-eligibility-check — how do I know if it already compromised me?

If airdrop-eligibility-check was installed, its post-install payload may already have run. Removing the package does not undo that — check outbound connections and credential use from the install window onward.

Is airdrop-eligibility-check part of a known attack campaign?

Yes — airdrop-eligibility-check is associated with the IN-MAL-2026-021357 campaign. Packages in the same campaign often share infrastructure and payloads, so check whether any related packages are also in your dependency tree.

How do I find airdrop-eligibility-check across my projects, lockfiles, and CI pipelines?

Search your lockfiles and build artifacts for airdrop-eligibility-check (version 0.9.1).

Malicious package

airdrop-eligibility-checkRubyGems

Advisory published Oct 11, 2026Updated Oct 11, 2026

airdrop-eligibility-check is a confirmed malicious RubyGems package (MAL-2026-17779) that steals credentials and exfiltrates sensitive data (malicious version 0.9.1). Do not install it — remove it immediately and rotate any exposed credentials.

Malicious code in airdrop-eligibility-check (RubyGems)

MAL-2026-17779

Immediate action

Remove the package, then rotate any secrets the build/runtime could reach.

gem uninstall airdrop-eligibility-check

What this malware does

The gem's extconf.rb, executed during gem install, decodes a base64 Ruby payload and eval's it inside a detached double-forked (Process.setsid) child process after a randomized 20–40 minute sleep. The payload opens a TCPSocket to the hardcoded endpoint 45.138.12.177:8089, spawns /bin/sh via IO.popen, and bridges stdio in both directions, providing an interactive reverse shell on the installer's host. Detonation is gated by anti-analysis checks that skip execution in CI, on ephemeral hostnames, under generated usernames, inside analysis paths, and when /proc/uptime is under 1800 seconds; it only arms when developer-credential files are present (~/.ssh, ~/.gitconfig, ~/.gem/credentials, ~/.bundle, ~/.npmrc). The gem has no real functionality: the gemspec name (airdrop-eligibility-check) does not match the README (bitcoin-rpc-lite) or the created makefile (bitcoin_rpc_lite_native), and the lib entry is a trivial stub returning 'ok'. The native-extension build is used solely as a vehicle for the dropper.

Malicious versions

1 flagged

0.9.1

Indicators of compromise (SHA-256)

eb3461788cd7b809ba613c07b39b583fb968ce927ccfc15433673e2731ca68d8

Detection & response playbook

Credential / info stealer

Find it
Search your lockfiles and build artifacts for airdrop-eligibility-check (version 0.9.1).
If you installed it — respond
airdrop-eligibility-check is built to steal secrets, so assume every credential the build or runtime could read is compromised. Remove it from your project and lockfile, then rotate ALL exposed secrets — npm/registry tokens, cloud keys, CI/CD secrets, SSH keys, and any .env values — from a known-clean machine. Audit logs for unauthorized use of those credentials.
Did it already run?
If airdrop-eligibility-check was installed, its post-install payload may already have run. Removing the package does not undo that — check outbound connections and credential use from the install window onward.

Frequently asked questions

No. airdrop-eligibility-check on RubyGems has been identified as a malicious package (version 0.9.1 flagged). It should be removed immediately — do not install or keep it in your dependency tree.

Campaign

IN-MAL-2026-021357

References

rubygems.org

Credits

Amazon Inspector · finder

Detect & block this

O3 blocks airdrop-eligibility-check-class packages before install and in CI — and if it already ran, its runtime egress monitoring catches the credential exfiltration and severs the channel.

Malware detection Runtime egress monitoring

Explore

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