Axios NPM Package Breached in North Korean Supply Chain Attack

A North Korean supply chain attack has compromised the popular Axios npm package — one of the most downloaded JavaScript HTTP libraries in the world — after a threat actor used a long-lived NPM access token to bypass the project's GitHub Actions OIDC-based CI/CD pipeline and publish backdoored package versions.

The attack, reported by SecurityWeek and attributed by Google's Threat Intelligence Group (GTIG) to the North Korean-linked cluster UNC1069, follows a pattern of DPRK-affiliated groups targeting developer tooling as a high-value entry point into software supply chains.

What Happened

Attackers obtained a long-lived NPM publish token — a legacy credential that pre-dates the project's adoption of the more secure GitHub Actions OIDC-based publishing workflow. By using this older token, they were able to publish new, backdoored versions of Axios directly to the npm registry without triggering the modern CI/CD controls the project had implemented.

The compromised token effectively provided a side channel around the project's security improvements, highlighting a critical gap: legacy credentials remain valid even after newer, more secure publishing mechanisms are put in place.

The Token Bypass Technique

Modern npm publishing best practices recommend using GitHub Actions OIDC tokens for publishing, which are short-lived, scoped, and tied to specific GitHub Actions workflow runs. These tokens cannot be reused outside of the specific workflow context that generated them.

However, many npm packages — especially long-standing ones — have grandfathered legacy publish tokens created before OIDC support existed. These tokens:

• Are long-lived with no automatic expiry
• Are not tied to any specific workflow or deployment pipeline
• Can be used from anywhere — not just GitHub Actions runners
• Are often stored in CI/CD secrets but are rarely audited or rotated

An attacker who obtains such a token can publish any version of the package at will, regardless of what security controls the project has added to its repository or CI/CD pipeline.

Why Axios Is a Critical Target

Axios is one of the most depended-upon packages in the entire npm ecosystem:

• Consistently ranks in the top 5 most downloaded npm packages with hundreds of millions of weekly downloads
• Used in React, Vue, Angular, Svelte, and virtually every major JavaScript framework
• Integrated as a transitive dependency in thousands of other packages
• Part of default scaffolding in Create React App, Next.js, Nuxt, and many more
• Automatically installed in CI/CD pipelines during build processes

Compromising Axios means that any developer, CI/CD runner, or build system that executes npm install against a lockfile referencing the backdoored version will silently install the malicious payload. In CI/CD contexts, this gives attackers access to environment secrets, cloud credentials, and deployment keys.

North Korean Supply Chain Targeting

Google's Threat Intelligence Group formally attributed this attack to UNC1069, a North Korean threat cluster with a history of financially motivated attacks against software developers, cryptocurrency platforms, and technology companies.

UNC1069 and related DPRK-affiliated groups have demonstrated a consistent strategy of:

1. Targeting developer credentials — NPM tokens, GitHub tokens, SSH keys
2. Poisoning the supply chain — injecting malicious code into packages used by target organisations
3. Focusing on cryptocurrency and fintech — maximising financial returns from compromised developer environments
4. Using social engineering as an entry point — fake job offers, trojanised interview assessments, and developer tool lures

This attack fits the established pattern: compromise a widely used developer tool to gain broad, automated access to developer machines and CI/CD infrastructure across thousands of organisations simultaneously.

Immediate Response

1. Audit Your Axios Version

# Check currently installed axios version
npm list axios
 
# Check across the full dependency tree
npm ls axios --all 2>/dev/null
 
# Verify against package-lock.json
grep -A2 '"axios"' package-lock.json | head -20

2. Verify Package Integrity

# Use npm audit to flag any known issues
npm audit
 
# Verify the published package signature (npm 9+)
npm audit signatures
 
# Check the npm registry for the current trusted version
npm view axios dist-tags

3. Rotate Secrets if Affected

If your environment installed a backdoored version:

# Immediately rotate all secrets in the affected environment:
# - NPM tokens
# - GitHub/GitLab personal access tokens
# - Cloud provider credentials (AWS, GCP, Azure)
# - Database connection strings
# - API keys stored in environment variables
 
# Revoke npm tokens via CLI
npm token list
npm token revoke <token-id>

4. Harden Your npm Publishing Pipeline

For package maintainers, this incident illustrates the importance of:

# Audit all existing npm publish tokens and revoke legacy ones
npm token list
npm token revoke <old-token-id>
 
# Enable npm Provenance (links published packages to source repo and CI)
# In package.json:
# "publishConfig": { "provenance": true }
 
# Enforce OIDC-only publishing via GitHub Actions
# Ensure no long-lived tokens remain in repository secrets

The Broader Pattern: DPRK Developer Tooling Attacks

This incident is part of a sustained campaign by North Korean threat actors targeting the software development ecosystem:

The common thread: attacking the tools developers trust to gain persistent, automated access to development environments and the secrets they contain.

Key Takeaways for Security Teams

• Audit and rotate all npm publish tokens — legacy tokens are a significant attack surface
• Enable npm Provenance for packages your organisation maintains
• Use npm ci (not npm install) in CI/CD pipelines to enforce lockfile integrity
• Monitor dependency updates for unexpected version bumps in high-trust packages
• Treat CI/CD environments as privileged systems — the secrets they hold are as valuable as production credentials

Source: SecurityWeek — April 1, 2026