Which versions of hwc2v are malicious?

The following RubyGems versions of hwc2v are flagged malicious: 0.0.1. Treat any of these as compromised.

How do I remediate hwc2v if I installed it?

hwc2v establishes remote access, so treat any host that installed it as fully compromised. Isolate the machine, remove the package, rotate all credentials it could reach, and rebuild from a trusted image rather than cleaning in place — a backdoor may have planted additional persistence.

I already installed hwc2v — how do I know if it already compromised me?

If hwc2v 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 hwc2v part of a known attack campaign?

Yes — hwc2v is associated with the RLMA-2026-02421, RLUA-2026-08224 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 hwc2v across my projects, lockfiles, and CI pipelines?

Search your lockfiles and build artifacts for hwc2v (version 0.0.1).

Malicious package

hwc2vRubyGems

Advisory published Jul 7, 2026Updated Sep 24, 2026

hwc2v is a confirmed malicious RubyGems package (MAL-2026-7770) that opens a backdoor for remote access (malicious version 0.0.1). Do not install it — remove it immediately and rotate any exposed credentials.

Malicious code in hwc2v (RubyGems)

MAL-2026-7770

Immediate action

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

gem uninstall hwc2v

Malicious versions

1 flagged

0.0.1

Indicators of compromise (SHA-256)

771c93ea17d651f82ea8181e58d420ddc69225ee4ca3f894bb11c64992caee42

379a5628125e96e9500fc31737ebaa12fd688af1f7ccfb7613260633e1cae70a

Detection & response playbook

Backdoor / remote access

Find it
Search your lockfiles and build artifacts for hwc2v (version 0.0.1).
If you installed it — respond
hwc2v establishes remote access, so treat any host that installed it as fully compromised. Isolate the machine, remove the package, rotate all credentials it could reach, and rebuild from a trusted image rather than cleaning in place — a backdoor may have planted additional persistence.
Did it already run?
If hwc2v 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. hwc2v on RubyGems has been identified as a malicious package (version 0.0.1 flagged). It should be removed immediately — do not install or keep it in your dependency tree.

Campaign

RLMA-2026-02421RLUA-2026-08224

References

github.com

Credits

ReversingLabs · finder

Detect & block this

O3 blocks hwc2v-class packages before install and in CI — and if it already ran, its runtime egress monitoring catches the C2 callback and severs the channel.

Malware detection Runtime egress monitoring

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