multichain-rpcRubyGems
Advisory published Updated
multichain-rpc is a confirmed malicious RubyGems package (MAL-2026-17791) 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 multichain-rpc (RubyGems)
What this malware does
The gem's extconf.rb, executed automatically by gem install as a native-extension build step, base64-decodes a Ruby payload and runs it via eval inside a double-forked, stdio-detached background process. The payload opens a TCP socket to the hardcoded host 45.138.12.177 on port 8089 and bridges it to /bin/sh, giving the remote operator an interactive shell on the installer's machine. Execution is gated by developer-host heuristics (presence of ~/.ssh, ~/.gitconfig, ~/.npmrc, ~/.gem/credentials, ~/.bundle, uptime > 1800s) and explicit anti-analysis checks that skip CI, ephemeral, generated-user, and sandbox environments, with a 20-40 minute delay before firing. The rest of the gem is cover: lib/multichain_rpc.rb exports only stub methods (build_id returning 'ok', healthy? returning true), the README advertises an unrelated name (bitcoin-rpc-lite), and extconf.rb declares a native extension (create_makefile('bitcoin_rpc_lite_native')) but ships no C sources, so the file's sole purpose is to run the embedded payload. Installing the gem on a developer workstation yields a full-host remote shell to the attacker.
Malicious versions
Indicators of compromise (SHA-256)
Detection & response playbook
Credential / info stealerFind it
Search your lockfiles and build artifacts for multichain-rpc (version 0.9.1).
If you installed it — respond
multichain-rpc 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 multichain-rpc 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 multichain-rpc-class packages before install and in CI — and if it already ran, its runtime egress monitoring catches the credential exfiltration and severs the channel.