SleeperGem Uses Three Malicious RubyGems Packages to Target Developer Machines

A software supply chain attack dubbed SleeperGem has been identified, involving three malicious RubyGems packages that were either newly published or surreptitiously updated after years of dormancy. The malicious gems act as loaders, fetching secondary payloads from an attacker-controlled Forgejo instance and establishing persistence on developer machines while avoiding CI/CD environments. The attack leverages compromised accounts to distribute payloads that exfiltrate sensitive data and deploy persistent backdoors, with one variant planting a setuid root shell for privilege escalation.

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