axios npm hijack: two poisoned releases shipped a cross-platform rat
Attackers took over the axios lead maintainer's npm account and published versions 1.14.1 and 0.30.4, which installed a remote access trojan through an injected dependency.
- advisory
- GHSA-fw8c-xr5c-95f9 (CWE-506, embedded malicious code)
- affected
- axios 1.14.1 and 0.30.4 (via plain-crypto-js 4.2.1)
- fixed in
- downgrade to axios 1.14.0 or 0.30.3
- exploited
- yes — malicious releases live on npm for about three hours on 31 Mar 2026
- platforms
- Windows, macOS, Linux
what happened
- On 31 March 2026, malicious axios versions 1.14.1 and 0.30.4 were published to npm from the lead maintainer's compromised account.[1,2]
- Both versions injected a dependency, plain-crypto-js@4.2.1, whose post-install payload deployed a remote access trojan on Windows, macOS and Linux.[2,3]
- Per the project's post-mortem, 1.14.1 went live at 00:21 UTC and npm removed the malicious axios versions at 03:15 UTC.[2]
- The lead maintainer says his computer was compromised by social engineering: an attacker posing as a company founder used a branded Slack workspace and a Microsoft Teams call to get him to install a RAT.[2]
- GitHub's advisory says any computer that installed or ran these versions should be considered fully compromised.[1]
- Google Threat Intelligence Group attributes the activity to UNC1069, a financially motivated North Korea-nexus actor, based on its WAVESHAPER.V2 malware and infrastructure overlaps.[4]
- Datadog reports axios has over 100 million weekly downloads and 174,000 dependent npm packages.[5]
- The axios project says it is adopting OIDC-based publishing and immutable releases.[2]
where sources differRemoval time differs: the axios post-mortem says npm removed the malicious versions at 03:15 UTC; Google's GTIG gives the malicious window as 00:21–03:20 UTC; Datadog's timeline says around 03:40 UTC, while its summary gives an effective window of 00:21–03:25 UTC.
sources5
- 01Malware in axios (GHSA-fw8c-xr5c-95f9) ↗ primaryGitHub Advisory Databaseaccessed 2026-10-21
- 02Post Mortem: axios npm supply chain compromise ↗ primaryaxios project (GitHub)accessed 2026-10-21
- 03Advisory on Axios Supply Chain Attack via Compromised npm Account ↗ primaryCyber Security Agency of Singaporeaccessed 2026-10-21
- 04North Korea-Nexus Threat Actor Compromises Widely Used Axios NPM Package in Supply Chain Attack ↗ secondaryGoogle Threat Intelligence Groupaccessed 2026-10-21
- 05Compromised axios npm package delivers cross-platform RAT ↗ secondaryDatadog Security Labsaccessed 2026-10-21