hd-wallet-generatorRubyGems
Advisory published Updated
hd-wallet-generator is a confirmed malicious RubyGems package (MAL-2026-17789) 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 hd-wallet-generator (RubyGems)
What this malware does
The gem's declared native extension build script ext/hd_wallet_generator/extconf.rb executes a Base64-encoded payload via eval() during gem install. The decoded payload opens a TCP socket to the hardcoded remote host 45.138.12.177:8089 and pipes /bin/sh over it (TCPSocket.new + IO.popen(['/bin/sh'],'r+') + IO.copy_stream), granting a remote operator an interactive shell on the installer's host. Execution is wrapped in a double-forked, detached child with a 20–40 minute sleep to decorrelate the connection from the install event. The payload runs only when a battery of evasion checks pass: no CI environment variables, hostname does not match sandbox/firecracker/vagrant/uvm patterns, username does not match generated/analyst patterns (uA\d+, sandbox, tester, analys, scanner), cwd is not under /tmp or /opt/rubygems, machine uptime exceeds 30 minutes, and developer-signal paths exist on disk (~/.ssh, ~/.gitconfig, ~/.gem/credentials, ~/.bundle, ~/.npmrc). No native source files are shipped; create_makefile is a cover stub so the extension-build pretext never actually builds anything. The package metadata name (hd-wallet-generator) and the README description (bitcoin-rpc-lite) disagree, consistent with a disguised dropper.
The OpenSSF Package Analysis project identified 'hd-wallet-generator' @ 0.9.1 (rubygems) as malicious.
It is considered malicious because:
- The package executes one or more commands associated with malicious behavior.
Malicious versions
Indicators of compromise (SHA-256)
Detection & response playbook
Credential / info stealerFind it
Search your lockfiles and build artifacts for hd-wallet-generator (version 0.9.1).
If you installed it — respond
hd-wallet-generator 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 hd-wallet-generator 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
- OpenSSF: Package Analysis · finder
Detect & block this
O3 blocks hd-wallet-generator-class packages before install and in CI — and if it already ran, its runtime egress monitoring catches the credential exfiltration and severs the channel.