North Korea-Nexus Threat Actor Compromises Widely Used Axios NPM Package in Supply Chain Attack
2026-04-01 • Google •
Google Threat Intelligence Group reports that malicious axios releases 1.14.1 and 0.30.4 introduced plain-crypto-js as a dependency, triggering a postinstall dropper that deployed WAVESHAPER.V2 backdoors across Windows, macOS, and Linux. GTIG attributes the activity to UNC1069, a financially motivated North Korea-nexus actor, based on WAVESHAPER.V2 lineage and infrastructure overlaps with earlier UNC1069 activity. The dropper used obfuscated strings, platform checks, and OS-specific execution paths, including a renamed PowerShell binary on Windows, an AppleScript-launched Mach-O payload on macOS, and a Python backdoor on Linux. The implants beaconed over HTTP to sfrclak[.]com:8000 with base64-encoded JSON and a distinctive fake IE8 User-Agent, supporting host reconnaissance, filesystem enumeration, command execution, and follow-on payload delivery. The compromise is significant because a brief malicious publish window in a widely used npm package could expose developer and enterprise environments to credential theft and downstream supply-chain attacks.
Indicators of Compromise
| Type | Value | First Seen | Last Seen |
|---|---|---|---|
| DOMAIN | sfrclak.com | 2026-03-30 | 2026-04-20 |
| HASH | e10b1fa84f1d6481625f741b6989278… | 2026-03-31 | 2026-04-17 |
| [email protected] | 2026-03-30 | 2026-04-17 | |
| URL | http://sfrclak.com:8000/6202033 | 2026-03-30 | 2026-04-17 |
| IPv4 | 142.11.206.73 | 2026-03-30 | 2026-04-17 |
| YARA | G_Hunting_Downloader_SILKBELL_1 | 2026-04-01 | 2026-04-01 |
| YARA | G_Hunting_Downloader_suspected_… | 2026-04-01 | 2026-04-01 |
| HASH | 7658962ae060a222c0058cd4e979bfa1 | 2026-03-31 | 2026-04-01 |
| HASH | 04e3073b3cd5c5bfcde6f575ecf6e8c1 | 2026-03-31 | 2026-04-01 |
| HASH | 089e2872016f75a5223b5e02c184dfec | 2026-03-31 | 2026-04-01 |