zzhelloworld_socktest

Details

**Severity:** Critical

**Affected versions:** `= 0.1.9`

## Source: amazon-inspector (4344ab16d08a7e38ea2f32b406453f86d792c0fa17103125ad84ffd0e39c187f)
On `require "zzhelloworld_socktest"`, the library's top-level module body opens a TCP connection to the hardcoded remote endpoint 66.78.40.218:32768, reopens STDIN, STDOUT, and STDERR onto that socket, and execs `/bin/sh -i`. Loading the gem gives the operator of that remote host an interactive shell on the installing machine, with no authentication and full process privileges. The gem's stated purpose is a trivial test library, which does not match a remote-shell capability. The destination is a bare IPv4 address unrelated to any declared publisher infrastructure.

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Credit: [OpenSSF](https://github.com/ossf/malicious-packages) ([source](https://github.com/ossf/malicious-packages/blob/ef4fb16c5411fd4e8ba3aa932a31e7f74afd8aec/osv/malicious/rubygems/zzhelloworld_socktest/MAL-2026-18126.json))

**References:**
- https://github.com/ossf/malicious-packages/blob/ef4fb16c5411fd4e8ba3aa932a31e7f74afd8aec/osv/malicious/rubygems/zzhelloworld_socktest/MAL-2026-18126.json
- https://rubygems.org/gems/zzhelloworld_socktest/versions/0.1.5
- https://rubygems.org/gems/zzhelloworld_socktest/versions/0.1.6
- https://rubygems.org/gems/zzhelloworld_socktest/versions/0.1.7
- https://rubygems.org/gems/zzhelloworld_socktest/versions/0.1.8
- https://rubygems.org/gems/zzhelloworld_socktest/versions/0.1.9
- https://rubygems.org/gems/zzhelloworld_socktest/versions/0.2.0
- https://rubygems.org/gems/zzhelloworld_socktest/versions/0.2.1

Compromised versions (1)

• = 0.1.9

Any computer that installed or ran a compromised version should be considered fully compromised. Rotate every secret on that machine from a clean environment.