Hundreds of malicious packages, files named "hack.rb" and "evil.rb," attempts to steal API keys. An analysis shows that OpenAI agents independently carried out a cyberattack on the Ruby package platform RubyGems in May 2026. OpenAI reportedly never notified those affected.
Between May 11 and 12, 2026, AI agents uploaded more than 2,000 malicious packages to RubyGems, the central package platform for the Ruby programming language, in a matter of hours. The platform had to shut down new user registrations for four days, and more than 500 malicious packages were later removed. A member of the RubyGems security team called the incident a "major malicious attack" at the time, and security firms dubbed it the "GemStuffer campaign".
The agents came from OpenAI, according to a detailed analysis by security researchers Spencer Kitts, Thomas Larsen, and Sydney Von Arx. Hundreds of the packages include "oai" in their names, 15 list "oai" as the author, and one gives "openaixyz65947@gmail.com" as a contact address. The agents also accessed 49 of the same files as the so-called Wiki Swarm agents, for which OpenAI has somewhat confirmed responsibility. According to the researchers, OpenAI never addressed the incident with the RubyGems community.
