RUSTSEC-2022-0042

Dashboard / Vulnerabilities / RUSTSEC-2022-0042

RUSTSEC-2022-0042

Summary: malicious crate `rustdecimal`

Details: The Rust Security Response WG and the crates.io team [were notified][1] on 2022-05-02 of the existence of the malicious crate `rustdecimal`, which contained malware. The crate name was intentionally similar to the name of the popular [`rust_decimal`][2] crate, hoping that potential victims would misspell its name (an attack called "typosquatting"). To protect the security of the ecosystem, the crates.io team permanently removed the crate from the registry as soon as it was made aware of the malware. An analysis of all the crates on crates.io was also performed, and no other crate with similar code patterns was found. Keep in mind that the [`rust_decimal`][2] crate was **not** compromised, and it is still safe to use. ## Analysis of the crate The crate had less than 500 downloads since its first release on 2022-03-25, and no crates on the crates.io registry depended on it. The crate contained identical source code and functionality as the legit `rust_decimal` crate, except for the `Decimal::new` function. When the function was called, it checked whether the `GITLAB_CI` environment variable was set, and if so it downloaded a binary payload into `/tmp/git-updater.bin` and executed it. The binary payload supported both Linux and macOS, but not for Windows. An analysis of the binary payload was not possible, as the download URL didn't work anymore when the analysis was performed. ## Recommendations If your project or organization is running GitLab CI, we strongly recommend checking whether your project or one of its dependencies depended on the `rustdecimal` crate, starting from 2022-03-25. If you notice a dependency on that crate, you should consider your CI environment to be compromised. In general, we recommend regularly auditing your dependencies, and only depending on crates whose author you trust. If you notice any suspicious behavior in a crate's source code please follow [the Rust security policy][3] and report it to the Rust Security Response WG. ## Acknowledgements We want to thank GitHub user [`@safinaskar`][4] for identifying the malicious crate in [this GitHub issue][1]. [1]: https://github.com/paupino/rust-decimal/issues/514#issuecomment-1115408888 [2]: https://crates.io/crates/rust_decimal [3]: https://www.rust-lang.org/policies/security [4]: https://github.com/safinaskar

References: https://crates.io/crates/rustdecimal, https://rustsec.org/advisories/RUSTSEC-2022-0042.html, https://groups.google.com/g/rustlang-security-announcements/c/5DVtC8pgJLw?pli=1