Which versions of circle-w3s are malicious?

The following RubyGems versions of circle-w3s are flagged malicious: 99.0.0. Treat any of these as compromised.

How do I remediate circle-w3s if I installed it?

Remove circle-w3s from your project and lockfile, then assume any secrets accessible to the build or runtime were exposed: rotate API keys, tokens, and credentials, and audit for unexpected outbound activity or persistence.

I already installed circle-w3s — how do I know if it already compromised me?

If circle-w3s 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 circle-w3s part of a known attack campaign?

Yes — circle-w3s is associated with the RLMA-2026-05660 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 circle-w3s across my projects, lockfiles, and CI pipelines?

Search your lockfiles and build artifacts for circle-w3s (version 99.0.0).

Malicious package

circle-w3sRubyGems

Advisory published Aug 24, 2026Updated Sep 1, 2026

circle-w3s is a confirmed malicious RubyGems package (MAL-2026-15694) that executes malicious code on install (malicious version 99.0.0). Do not install it — remove it immediately and rotate any exposed credentials.

Malicious code in circle-w3s (RubyGems)

MAL-2026-15694

Immediate action

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

gem uninstall circle-w3s

Malicious versions

1 flagged

99.0.0

Indicators of compromise (SHA-256)

a65f1542b6ff3ea4da9efcb1c1824e1f99d128d110ea162b899e8d17a53c3c16

Detection & response playbook

Malicious package

Find it
Search your lockfiles and build artifacts for circle-w3s (version 99.0.0).
If you installed it — respond
Remove circle-w3s from your project and lockfile, then assume any secrets accessible to the build or runtime were exposed: rotate API keys, tokens, and credentials, and audit for unexpected outbound activity or persistence.
Did it already run?
If circle-w3s 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. circle-w3s on RubyGems has been identified as a malicious package (version 99.0.0 flagged). It should be removed immediately — do not install or keep it in your dependency tree.

Campaign

RLMA-2026-05660

Credits

ReversingLabs · finder

Detect & block this

O3 blocks circle-w3s-class packages before install and in CI — and if it already ran, its runtime egress monitoring catches the malicious outbound activity and severs the channel.

Malware detection Runtime egress monitoring

Explore

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