The Axios npm supply chain incident: fake dependency, real backdoor

The Axios npm supply chain incident: fake dependency, real backdoor

On March 31, 2026, two malicious Axios versions (1.14.1 and 0.30.4) were briefly published to npm via a compromised maintainer account. The only change performed was the addition of a trojanized dependency, whose postinstall script deployed a cross‑platform RAT (for macOS, Windows, and Linux). Although the Axios packages were removed within hours, multiple hits were observed in our MDR service, mainly across developer workstations and Docker containers. In this blog post, we briefly walk through the details of the incident, share our observations, and provide KQL hunting queries used to identify and assess exposure across our MDR customers.