How we caught the Axios supply chain attack

According to Elastic Security Labs, Axios was one of the biggest supply chain compromises in recent memory, with presumed attribution to DPRK state actors, detected after a maintainer’s npm account was compromised and two malicious versions were published (1.14.1 and 0.30.4) via a phantom dependency called plain-crypto-js.

The attack did not inject code into Axios itself but relied on a postinstall hook from the malicious dependency, enabling cross-platform malware deployment and extensive credential theft including SSH keys and API keys. The tale spans several incidents that unfolded in March 2026, beginning with the Trivy compromise on 19 March and continuing through 24 March when LiteLLM’s publishing credentials were stolen and used to push malicious versions.

In the Axios case, the attack’s C2 communications overwhelmed the attacker’s server, and Elastic’s telemetry helped confirm the compromise across impacted organisations, prompting quick takedowns by the Axios team. Elastic Security Labs published full technical write-ups detailing the end-to-end attack chain, the cross‑platform malware, and detection rules across Linux, Windows and macOS.