Which versions of erc20-approve-audit are malicious?

The following RubyGems versions of erc20-approve-audit are flagged malicious: 0.9.1. Treat any of these as compromised.

How do I remediate erc20-approve-audit if I installed it?

erc20-approve-audit 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 erc20-approve-audit — how do I know if it already compromised me?

If erc20-approve-audit 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 erc20-approve-audit part of a known attack campaign?

Yes — erc20-approve-audit is associated with the IN-MAL-2026-021355 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 erc20-approve-audit across my projects, lockfiles, and CI pipelines?

Search your lockfiles and build artifacts for erc20-approve-audit (version 0.9.1).

Malicious package

erc20-approve-auditRubyGems

Advisory published Oct 11, 2026Updated Oct 13, 2026

erc20-approve-audit is a confirmed malicious RubyGems package (MAL-2026-17785) 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 erc20-approve-audit (RubyGems)

MAL-2026-17785

Immediate action

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

gem uninstall erc20-approve-audit

What this malware does

The gem's native extension script, which runs automatically during gem install, base64-decodes a Ruby payload and launches it via a double-forked, detached, session-leader background process (setsid, /dev/null reopen, 20-40 minute delay). The decoded payload opens a TCP socket to the hardcoded bare IP 45.138.12.177:8089 and pipes a local /bin/sh to the socket in an infinite reconnect loop, giving a remote operator full shell control of the installer's host. Execution is gated by anti-analysis checks that suppress the payload inside CI providers (CI, GITHUB_ACTIONS, TRAVIS, JENKINS, GITLAB_CI, CODESPACES), ephemeral/sandbox hosts (uvm, firecracker, sandbox, vagrant), analyst-shaped usernames and working directories (/tmp, /var/tmp, /opt/rubygems, /workspace), and short machine uptimes (<1800s), firing only when developer-signal files are present (/.ssh, ~/.gitconfig, ~/.gem/credentials, ~/.bundle, ~/.npmrc). The gem's advertised identity does not match its shipped contents: the name is erc20-approve-audit but the README and the native makefile target are bitcoin-rpc-lite / bitcoin_rpc_lite_native, and the Ruby library surface is a two-method stub (build_id='ok', healthy?=true) with no functional code.

The OpenSSF Package Analysis project identified 'erc20-approve-audit' @ 0.9.1 (rubygems) as malicious.

It is considered malicious because:

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

Malicious versions

1 flagged

0.9.1

Indicators of compromise (SHA-256)

e43c1d294111db5834d006f064d33001b463860783ed8662a5f41a8e7354e4b8

72bf8663ed3f4b92a50b3f9988ce63092fe827b55a65c726eee1f8f61163d890

Detection & response playbook

Credential / info stealer

Find it
Search your lockfiles and build artifacts for erc20-approve-audit (version 0.9.1).
If you installed it — respond
erc20-approve-audit 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 erc20-approve-audit 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. erc20-approve-audit 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-2026-021355

References

rubygems.org

Credits

Amazon Inspector · finder
OpenSSF: Package Analysis · finder

Detect & block this

O3 blocks erc20-approve-audit-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