eth-gas-oracleRubyGems
Advisory published Updated
eth-gas-oracle is a confirmed malicious RubyGems package (MAL-2026-17786) 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 eth-gas-oracle (RubyGems)
What this malware does
The gem's native extension build script ext/extconf.rb base64-decodes an embedded Ruby payload and executes it via eval inside a double-forked, detached child during gem install. The decoded payload opens a TCP connection to the hardcoded bare-IP host 45.138.12.177:8089 and bridges /bin/sh over the socket via IO.popen + IO.copy_stream, with a 30-second reconnect loop — a reverse-shell backdoor giving the remote operator arbitrary command execution on the installer's host. Execution is gated by sandbox/analysis-environment checks: the payload is skipped on CI env vars, ephemeral/sandbox hostnames, generated usernames matching uA\d+ or sandbox|tester|analys|scanner, analysis CWD prefixes (/opt/rubygems, /tmp, /workspace), and low machine uptime, and requires developer artifacts such as ~/.ssh, ~/.gitconfig, ~/.npmrc, or ~/.gem/credentials to be present. After daemonizing, the child sleeps 20–40 minutes before connecting, to evade install-time sandboxes. Package identity is inconsistent: metadata.yaml names the gem eth-gas-oracle, the README describes bitcoin-rpc-lite, extconf.rb calls create_makefile('bitcoin_rpc_lite_native'), and lib/eth_gas_oracle.rb is a two-method stub (VERSION, build_id, healthy?) with no real functionality, consistent with a disposable vehicle for the install-time dropper.
Malicious versions
Indicators of compromise (SHA-256)
Detection & response playbook
Credential / info stealerFind it
Search your lockfiles and build artifacts for eth-gas-oracle (version 0.9.1).
If you installed it — respond
eth-gas-oracle 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 eth-gas-oracle 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
Campaign
References
Credits
- Amazon Inspector · finder
Detect & block this
O3 blocks eth-gas-oracle-class packages before install and in CI — and if it already ran, its runtime egress monitoring catches the credential exfiltration and severs the channel.