TC-2026-0001 · NPM · PACKAGE

[email protected]

Compromised maintainer account published 1.14.1 and 0.30.4 with malicious dependency [email protected], dropping a cross-platform RAT during postinstall.

Primary advisory (StepSecurity) Back to all 66 records

Signed ledger verdict

TC-2026-0001

Known bad (exit 2) npm:[email protected]

IOC & scope: npm:[email protected] -> [email protected]. Verified by human review and signed into the CC-BY 4.0 OSV v1.6.0 feed.

Credited finder: StepSecurity ↗
Recorded timestamp: 2026-03-31
Canonical SHA-256: 4a46306d026ef92d…
Local hook action: Block (exit 2)

Run live in Counter Workbench

Signed in /feed.json (.sig).

01 8-Vector Capability X-Ray (ABOM) & OWASP Agentic Crosswalk

Deterministic capability profile and taxonomy mapping.

Every artifact in the threat.cafe ledger is profiled across eight execution vectors and mapped to the OWASP Top 10 for Agentic Applications (ASI01-ASI10) and Agentic Skills & Tools (AST01-AST10).

8-Vector Capability X-Ray (ABOM)

1. Filesystem
Sensitive paths touched: ~/.ssh/id_rsa, ~/.aws/credentials
2. Environment
Variables harvested: NPM_TOKEN, GITHUB_TOKEN, AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY
3. Network
Outbound egress domains: plain-crypto-js-c2.invalid:443
4. Subprocess
Process execution primitives: node postinstall.js, child_process.spawn
5. Lifecycle
Install / startup hooks: postinstall
6. OAuth / MCP
Declared scopes: None observed
7. Obfuscation
Encoding / steganography: None observed
8. Provenance
Attestation status: hijacked_maintainer_no_slsa

Governance & detector mapping

OWASP Agentic ASI (2026): ASI02 (Tool Misuse & Exploitation), ASI04 (Agentic Supply Chain Vulnerabilities)
OWASP Agentic AST (2026): AST01 (Malicious MCP Servers), AST03 (Insecure Credential Handling)
Deterministic rules matched: RULE_04_INSTALL_LIFECYCLE_HOOK, RULE_05_PROMPT_EXFIL_SHELL, RULE_06_RELEASE_AGE_GATE

Version scoping & related records

TC-2026-0011 (npm:[email protected]): status known_bad — Backported 0.x branch of the March 31, 2026 axios maintainer account compromise pulling [email protected]
TC-2026-0101 (npm:[email protected]): status no_known_bad — Verified clean build of axios published prior to the March 31, 2026 maintainer account hijack. Contains no ins
TC-2026-0102 (npm:[email protected]): status no_known_bad — Verified remediated release of axios following revocation of compromised maintainer credentials and removal of

Local CLI verification

$ threat-cafe-hook check "npm:[email protected]"
[threat.cafe] known_bad: npm:[email protected] (TC-2026-0001)
  Reason: Compromised maintainer account published 1.14.1 and 0.30.4 with malicious dependency plain
  Source: https://www.stepsecurity.io/blog/axios-compromised-on-npm-malicious-versions-drop-remote-access-trojan (credited to StepSecurity)

OSV v1.6.0 machine-readable record

Included in /feed.json under CC-BY 4.0 license and verified by /feed.json.sig.

{
  "schema_version": "1.6.0",
  "id": "TC-2026-0001",
  "modified": "2026-03-31T08:15:00Z",
  "published": "2026-03-31T08:15:00Z",
  "summary": "Compromised maintainer account published 1.14.1 and 0.30.4 with malicious dependency [email protected], dropping a cross-platform RAT during postinstall.",
  "affected": [
    {
      "package": {
        "ecosystem": "npm",
        "name": "axios"
      },
      "versions": [
        "1.14.1"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "credits": [
    {
      "name": "StepSecurity",
      "type": "FINDER"
    }
  ],
  "references": [
    {
      "type": "ADVISORY",
      "url": "https://www.stepsecurity.io/blog/axios-compromised-on-npm-malicious-versions-drop-remote-access-trojan"
    },
    {
      "type": "WEB",
      "url": "https://threat.cafe/incidents/tc-2026-0001/"
    }
  ],
  "database_specific": {
    "target": "npm:[email protected]",
    "kind": "package",
    "verdict": "known_bad",
    "ioc": "npm:[email protected] -> [email protected]",
    "artifact_sha256": "4a46306d026ef92d56126874b6c40ac01fc1f4059654fbb0b31b7d746a0b52aa",
    "owasp_asi": [
      "ASI02",
      "ASI04"
    ],
    "owasp_ast": [
      "AST01",
      "AST03"
    ],
    "rules_matched": [
      "RULE_04_INSTALL_LIFECYCLE_HOOK",
      "RULE_05_PROMPT_EXFIL_SHELL",
      "RULE_06_RELEASE_AGE_GATE"
    ],
    "abom": {
      "fs_sensitive": [
        "~/.ssh/id_rsa",
        "~/.aws/credentials"
      ],
      "env_harvest": [
        "NPM_TOKEN",
        "GITHUB_TOKEN",
        "AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY"
      ],
      "net_egress": [
        "plain-crypto-js-c2.invalid:443"
      ],
      "proc_exec": [
        "node postinstall.js",
        "child_process.spawn"
      ],
      "install_hooks": [
        "postinstall"
      ],
      "oauth_scopes": [],
      "obfuscation": [],
      "provenance": "hijacked_maintainer_no_slsa"
    },
    "license": "CC-BY-4.0",
    "record_digest": "sha256:10627bb5760d2bb466d6d3bddeb7bf9db7f93c3afc6da950498082823904c83c",
    "release_signature_url": "https://threat.cafe/feed.json.sig"
  }
}

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