Which versions of electrum-protocol-lite are malicious?

The following RubyGems versions of electrum-protocol-lite are flagged malicious: 1.0.0. Treat any of these as compromised.

How do I remediate electrum-protocol-lite if I installed it?

electrum-protocol-lite 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 electrum-protocol-lite — how do I know if it already compromised me?

If electrum-protocol-lite 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 electrum-protocol-lite part of a known attack campaign?

Yes — electrum-protocol-lite is associated with the IN-MAL-2026-021056 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 electrum-protocol-lite across my projects, lockfiles, and CI pipelines?

Search your lockfiles and build artifacts for electrum-protocol-lite (version 1.0.0).

Malicious package

electrum-protocol-liteRubyGems

Advisory published Oct 5, 2026Updated Oct 6, 2026

electrum-protocol-lite is a confirmed malicious RubyGems package (MAL-2026-17596) that steals credentials and exfiltrates sensitive data (malicious version 1.0.0). Do not install it — remove it immediately and rotate any exposed credentials.

Malicious code in electrum-protocol-lite (RubyGems)

MAL-2026-17596

Immediate action

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

gem uninstall electrum-protocol-lite

What this malware does

RubyGems runs this gem's native extension script ext/electrum-protocol-lite/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's native-extension builder (ext/.../extconf.rb) is not a real build script: the shipped C source is a no-op stub, and extconf.rb instead decodes a base64-wrapped Ruby payload and evaluates it during gem install. The payload reconstructs a URL by XOR-decoding a hex blob against a 4-byte key, sleeps for a randomized 20-40 minutes, then downloads http://45.138.172.177:8092/wgkit.tar.gz over plain HTTP to /tmp/.w1.tgz, extracts it, and executes wg_install.sh via bash in a double-forked, detached process. Execution is gated to skip CI, ephemeral/sandbox hosts, and known analysis paths, and only fires on hosts showing developer artefacts (~/.ssh, ~/.gitconfig, ~/.gem/credentials, ~/.bundle, ~/.npmrc) with uptime over 30 minutes. The C2 endpoint is a bare IPv4 address unrelated to any declared publisher, the fetched code is unpinned and unverified, and the obfuscation (base64 + XOR + delayed execution) and anti-analysis gating serve no purpose other than evading detection on developer workstations.

The OpenSSF Package Analysis project identified 'electrum-protocol-lite' @ 1.0.0 (rubygems) as malicious.

It is considered malicious because:

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

Malicious versions

1 flagged

1.0.0

Indicators of compromise (SHA-256)

668c7bcfd51cfcc2efda2d772dc087067883a214357361a960f6db8e2a9ca1e8

2e894739c755d2fb2b6e7eae5feac503771629073dc98a3fe391498d9adbcad2

Detection & response playbook

Credential / info stealer

Find it
Search your lockfiles and build artifacts for electrum-protocol-lite (version 1.0.0).
If you installed it — respond
electrum-protocol-lite 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 electrum-protocol-lite 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. electrum-protocol-lite on RubyGems has been identified as a malicious package (version 1.0.0 flagged). It should be removed immediately — do not install or keep it in your dependency tree.

Campaign

IN-MAL-2026-021056

References

Credits

Amazon Inspector · finder
OpenSSF: Package Analysis · finder
SafeDep · finder

Detect & block this

O3 blocks electrum-protocol-lite-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

All malware advisories How O3 detects malware Vulnerability database